It is OK that my company blocks ads?

[starsmine]

6 hours ago, karanssh said:

I can't dig up the tweet but SwiftOnSecurity said it is a part of their handbook to push adblock to company devices.

I personally think that malicious ads are so rampant that adblock is a necessity at this point.

malicious ads exist, I agree but no, they are not rampant. they are an oddity, they are an exception. A company risk vectors are always going to be social engineering vectors. 

I do not think it is great that any company has policy to break the TOS on every website they visit, and scrap the data for their own use, especially if those website are resources the company is not paying for. There is a cost to consolidate that information, there is a cost to serve that information, and a company going "lol yoink" is pretty damn unethical.

I don't give a damn about supporting creators here like OP phrased it. But if a company is concerned about ads, then they need to pay for ad free versions at a cooperate tier of every website commonly used as a resource.

its really whatever when an individual blocks ads, but its a another thing when a company acts unethically about its acquisition of information/media/software.

[BentleyOwen123]

4 hours ago, Lurking said:

One could argue the regular Google search engine was early stage AI. And there has been an awful lot of AI in my 3 year old Pixel phone. 

 

And with the many years of development current AI took, it is impossible that Google saw the Bing AI  3 Months ago and created their own from scratch in short time.

 

 

thats true

[Mark Kaine]

eh, ads are typically potentially malicious so its normal to be blocked on safe networks... want to "support" creators, send them money i guess.

[Mark Kaine]

4 hours ago, starsmine said:

I do not think it is great that any company has policy to break the TOS on every website they visit

ok, but the TOS might not be legal in the first place, so why follow it? ads are high security risk,  if those websites want their "ad money" either block visits from people with safe networks, or sue them (since they "obviously" own the website money) 

 

My suggestion would be a more sustainable approach for making money instead (ie merchandise, patreon, other subscriptions, donations...)

 

i actually do *not* think that every influencer/youtuber should be able to live from Google ads, that's just not healthy or sustainable, the bigger channels,  or in general the ones i watch do not seem to have that issue  - make content that interests people and is self sufficient instead of make content "for the ad money" get lost with this shit honestly, i don't want your ads. 

[Blasty Blosty]

18 hours ago, wasab said:

Hm, I can install whatever on my company laptop, short of wiping out the operating system. Just saying. 

Does it stay onsite or is it like a take it where you need it kinda thing

[wasab]

6 hours ago, Blasty Blosty said:

Does it stay onsite or is it like a take it where you need it kinda thing

we take it everywhere with us. i haven't seen anyone leaving their work laptop in the office. some employees work completely remote, others hybrid, some travels

 

[Donut417]

On 5/14/2024 at 4:11 PM, GodAtum said:

On my company's laptop,

 

On 5/14/2024 at 4:11 PM, GodAtum said:

Do you think I should raise it with the IT team that it could be considered harmful to creators?

 

Its not their problem. Its the companies computer and their rules for how its used and whats allowed and not. They are under no legal obligation to allow ads. I personally been attacked by a malware infected ad by going to Facebook before. Thats why I run uBlock and Ghoestery. One ad fucked up and so I block them all. Too many companies now days are getting breached. They have to do all they can to protect their network and resources attached to that network.

 

Furthermore, why are you using a company computer to access bullshit like YouTube and stuff that has ads?

[Blasty Blosty]

On 5/17/2024 at 6:15 PM, wasab said:

we take it everywhere with us. i haven't seen anyone leaving their work laptop in the office. some employees work completely remote, others hybrid, some travels

 

Yeah that makes sense

 

The laptops work the same way here I think

[wasab]

10 hours ago, Blasty Blosty said:

Yeah that makes sense

 

The laptops work the same way here I think

No one uses desktop at my org. We just plug our macbook into a monitor. 

[Blasty Blosty]

13 hours ago, wasab said:

No one uses desktop at my org. We just plug our macbook into a monitor. 

We tried that here with surface pros but they are just so bad its almost funny

 

Getting them replaced slowly

[gentlemanspot]

IT can not trust Endusers to not click stupid stuff!, 

 

uBlock is great it can be deployed via GPO and it helps tighten security and i see it as application hardening

 

But yeah i anit giving endusers a chance to mess up! some are lucky that they get internet access! ... 

[wasab]

25 minutes ago, Blasty Blosty said:

We tried that here with surface pros but they are just so bad its almost funny

 

Getting them replaced slowly

surely, they cant be worse than dell and Lenovo business computers 

[Blasty Blosty]

1 minute ago, wasab said:

surely, they cant be worse than dell and Lenovo business computers 

Non-IT people seem to struggle with them sometimes, desktops are just easier

[wasab]

22 minutes ago, Blasty Blosty said:

Non-IT people seem to struggle with them sometimes, desktops are just easier

desktop requires a display cable plug into the monitor too, now sure how this is any easier

[Blasty Blosty]

2 minutes ago, wasab said:

desktop requires a display cable plug into the monitor too, now sure how this is any easier

I was more along the lines of using the tablet itself

[Sauron]

There's nothing illegal about blocking ads and there are many security advantages to doing so. Your company is well within its rights in blocking them and I would do so as well if I were a company's IT manager.

 

If you're that worried about creators' incomes you can always donate money to them or buy their merch, both of which are much more impactful than sitting through ads.

[wasab]

9 hours ago, Blasty Blosty said:

I was more along the lines of using the tablet itself

Oh, what I mean is that you can effectively turn your laptop/table into a desktop by plugging it into a monitor and with a mouse and keyboard. Aboslutly no difference from a traditional desktop except it can literally be move across the room to another monitor and do the same thing. A lot more portable. For macbook and some monitors, you literally just need one single thunderbolt cable. Handles all the IO devices (mouse+keyboard) as well as display port/hdmi

[Blasty Blosty]

2 hours ago, wasab said:

Oh, what I mean is that you can effectively turn your laptop/table into a desktop by plugging it into a monitor and with a mouse and keyboard. Aboslutly no difference from a traditional desktop except it can literally be move across the room to another monitor and do the same thing. A lot more portable. For macbook and some monitors, you literally just need one single thunderbolt cable. Handles all the IO devices (mouse+keyboard) as well as display port/hdmi

yeah, every employee has 2 monitors and a dock for their laptop

 

i got called out today because it wasnt working, the dock was just unplugged a little after it had been moved

 

pc's stay in one place meaning less IT tickets for us to deal with haha