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Why the popularity of ad blockers is the advertising industry’s own fault
Ten years ago, I moved out of my parents’ house. The first thing I bought was a NO/NO sticker, which people in the Netherlands can put on their letterboxes to indicate they’re not interested in junk mail. I put it on mine with a happy smile. Isn’t that wonderful, I thought, having the power to…
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Digital magazines: A new form of consumption?
Quality and distinctiveness are crucial for online magazines Being an internet expert, a consultant to the CEOs of major organisations and a successful entrepreneur, Danny Mekić has strong opinions on various strategic issues at play in the Dutch business world. In this article, he looks ahead at developments within online marketing and explains his views…
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Tracking devices and counting cars
What’s the difference between seeing a red car and seeing a mobile device, Peter Beijer asked (NRC, Saturday), in response to Bas Heijne’s reaction to the news that Dixons and other stores track our behaviour using the unique signals of our mobile phones. The answer depends on whether it’s a person or a machine that…
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The Snowden saga shows a radical shift in democracy
The debate about governmental surveillance and mass espionage that Edward Snowden’s revelations have started should also be about capitalism, argues Evgeny Morozov in the Financial Times. Because data is becoming the new money. But data isn’t replacing money at all and the debate should not be about capitalism, replies Danny Mekic. Money, as a medium…
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Retailer self-pity won’t help your revenue
It seems not a week goes by without a message appearing in one medium or another, lamenting how badly retailers suffer from the advent of the internet. It’s being repeated so often, you’d almost start believing it. And now the retail crisis has even reached a point where an appeal to the consumers’ morality is…
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Mass surveillance of web traffic is not an ‘expansion of existing jurisdiction’
This Monday, the investigation report of the Commission Dessens was presented; the commission was tasked by the Dutch House of Representatives last year with evaluating the ‘Wet op de inlichtingen- en veiligheidsdiensten’ (Law on the Intelligence and Security Services, abbreviated ‘Wiv’). That commission is now suggesting an ‘expansion of the jurisdiction’ of the Dutch AIVD…