Linux containers vs. VMs: A security comparison (InfoWorld) [LWN.net]

Linux containers vs. VMs: A security comparison (InfoWorld)

Posted May 20, 2016 20:44 UTC (Fri) by rahvin (guest, #16953)
In reply to: Linux containers vs. VMs: A security comparison (InfoWorld) by malor
Parent article: Linux containers vs. VMs: A security comparison (InfoWorld)

"Purchased" articles are common these days. It unfortunate because now you need to vet any information you receive from any publication or article because they may have been paid to write the article.

It's gotten so bad I pretty much ignore a lot of stuff that might be valid because I suspect it's a paid article advertisement masquerading as an actual review. Even forum comments are getting this way with companies and governments paying SEO type companies to spam commenting systems with subtle advertising.

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Linux containers vs. VMs: A security comparison (InfoWorld)

Posted May 20, 2016 21:43 UTC (Fri) by drag (guest, #31333) [Link] (1 responses)

The correct term is called 'Native Advertising'.

This is different then things like product placements you see in television in movies. Rather then placing products or adding ads to a article.. the entire television show segment or article is written for a specific customer.

Everybody needs to understand very well that when you are dealing with the vast majority of television, radio, or other media that _you_ are _not_ the customer. A customer is a person that pays a business for a service. The customer of most media is advertisers.

And the articles and television programs and other such things.. these are not the products. Those are just a means to a end. The actual product is people's attention.. peoples 'eyeballs' and 'ears'. The articles are just there to entice you into seeing their advertising.

As the reality bubble around online advertising is collapsing and old media is dying these places are becoming more and more desperate for revenue. The customers are realizing that the quality of product they are being sold (people's attention) is just not there and the quantities of views are pure fantasies in many cases.

As desperation increases so then the ethical barriers begin to fall.

Originally some websites would allow 'sponsored content' that would have disclaimers at the top and bottom and was different in appearance. Used different fonts, different placement, different styles, etc.

But that was probably 5 years ago.

Nowadays even very mainstream and relatively respected media outlets will actually sell _writers_ and _editors_ time to other companies to make sure that even the writing style is indistinguishable. They will take the content from the advertiser and rewrite it to match their magazine or website or whatever.

It's very shitty behavior and is only going to get worse.

That is why outlets like lwn.net are so important. Because we pay them money for content WE are the customers. Not advertisers. They write the articles for US.. for our benefit.

This is unfortunately very rare nowadays.

Linux containers vs. VMs: A security comparison (InfoWorld)

Posted May 26, 2016 14:36 UTC (Thu) by jospoortvliet (guest, #33164) [Link]

I agree with your analysis, just am a bit less negative about it: if we don't pay directly, sites have to earn in other ways. Native advertising can be ok if it is made clear what it is (yes that often goes wrong) and is done with some editorial integrity (that really is possible!).

I am sympathetic because I see there a big gray area. As KDE volunteer I occasionally wrote articles about KDE for magazines. Obviously I didn't get paid - they got free content to put ads around, I got to promote my project. And lwn editors get travel and hotel support to visit events and write about them. This, too, is money to promote those events.

And then there is the thing where a journalist is involved in or just a fan of a project - that makes them less than neutral too.

Yes those things are different. But not THAT different. And they can be done right and without horrible side effects. I think the same goes for native advertising. It can be a disaster, abused. But not always I think