AdBlock Plus being sued by German Companies

[Hyp0xia]

Well here's where it gets a little tricky, ethically speaking. While there are means in place to circumvent ads on YouTube (AdBlock Plus), you're essentially circumventing the social contract that exists between Youtubers and their viewers. Youtube is supposed to be free. There are premium paid-for video services elsewhere, but most flock to youtube precisely because its free.

 

Also saying that "It's never been an extremely profitable job, nor should it be" as some excuse to skip the ads and thus prevent them from getting income? That's asinine. Youtubers DON'T make a lot of money, unless they're bigshots like Pewdiepie or Tobuscus. I feel this is the same as stuff like Video Game piracy. If you don't want to pay for it (in this case by watching/seeing ads), then you shouldn't watch the content.

 

If there is a donation system in-place and you choose to donate, then it becomes a murky grey area, where I believe you've earned the right to use Ad-Block. This is great for Youtube with the planned "Tip-Jar" feature that should be out soon.

 

The problem is that the Internet couldn't be sustained if everyone threw up paywalls, as most people would just say "Fuck this" and go elsewhere. YOU PERSONALLY might be alright with paywalls, but I'm not. Nor are most users. I'm comfortable with a donation system supported by ads because it gives me the flexibility to decide if I'd like to contribute financially.

 

Some users wouldn't be able to afford monthly subscription fees. So they can't enjoy the content because they're poor or financially restricted? NO! Because we have ads! If we got rid of ads, then those users would have course but to either pirate/circumvent the paywall, or not enjoy the content. Both of those outcomes are bad.

 

I fully support the use of AdBlock Plus in what I like to call "generic" web browsing though. You're googling stuff, or on a major website supported by a large corporation or that relies on other revenue streams, such as CNN.com or Gmail (Although with Google it's a little ironic, considering they support Gmail from their google adsense revenue), or lastly the website uses extremely annoying and intrusive ads (Anyone remember the "smiley face" HELLLOOOOOOOOOO ones that triggered if you mouse-over the ad?). But any website you actively support or are a member of should have AdBlock disabled if possible, most especially youtube and here at LTT (Though if you're a donor, then I'll forgive you).

Stop being so self-righteous. I don't punsih my eyes and ears with ads because I don't like ads. That's all there is to it.

[Misanthrope]

I'm not sure what you're trying to say.  What I'm saying is without the freedom that 3rd party ad services provide, there would be no internet as we know it.

 

I'm not saying that it wouldn't be different I agree on that. I am saying however, that this is not necessarily a bad thing to weed out people who do make a living off it and probably shouldn't

[RelentlessAF]

Without the freedom of ad services like google provides. . . there would be no content.  Look at television, content is controlled through giant television networks, and basically every ad you see is from an even bigger conglomerate like proctor and gamble, yum foods, or a car company.

 

We would not have the diversity of content that is killing the cable industry without the mostly innocuous ads.  We would not have the huge diversity of websites that cater to every interest imaginable.  It would simply not exist.

 

Where the **** do you people browse, and how much video content do you people consume where you think ads are obtrusive?  How many youtube videos do you watch on a regular basis that you go "i've seen too many ads"?  (Serious questions)

 

We wouldn't be here on this forum without ad services.  We'd still be on the yahoo homepage with content curated by a zillion dollar corporation.  Think about that.

TV delivers great content though? Well for the most part. If YouTube WAS a networked service it would be filled with a LOT less crap.

[Builder]

Yes but i would just learn to deal with them if adblock was gone unlike most other people ive seen complain about ads on the side of website that are flashy or something i dont understand how that annoys them they dont have to look at it just focus on the webpage.

 

Yea but they put time and effort into there videos for you to watch you dont think they deserve anything? alot of those videos cost time and money to where if u still want the videos they will have to do it full time its not like u have to give them money or do anything.

But it's a social network. I understand they do it full time, but as I've said before, the Partner program was not made so you could make a living off of your videos. It was to incentivize you a bit to make more videos and more money for Google. Google gets paid way more for their ads then any partner does, and frankly I don't like Google enough to give them the gross majority of the profit. I think it is unfair in that regard but as I said it's essentially a byproduct of how popular channels can get these days that it's even possible to make a living off of partnership.

 

When you see PewDiePie makes over $1,000,000 a year off of it, Google is making at least 10x that off of him. I don't think anyone at Google expected people to be living off of the ad revenue they got from Partnership.

 

Linus in particular has a lot of other sponsors that pay him to show ads for him that aren't part of partnership. I watch those all the way through, and as I said before, I use his affiliate links in a rotation with a lot of other YouTubers. I have no problem with sponsor ads in the videos themselves, I don't however accept Google's incessant advertising bull because I only use YouTube for Linus and a few others and aside from that I don't use Google products. I don't think Google deserves the majority of the profit from ads shown on other people's content, but it's never actually about the user with Google, it's about money.

 

Chrome was created so they could log the omnibox and other areas of your browsing habits to better show you ads. Android was created for the same purpose, to figure out the most effective ways to show ads to mobile devices every waking hour. Chromecast was created to show you ads on a bigger screen, and Android TV will be either the same or focused on collecting even more data.

 

It's an ugly truth, but Google is all about the data, data that allows them to show you more psychologically convincing advertisements that beat you into submission and eventually subconsciously force you into clicking on it and buying the product. 

 

I'd rather make decisions myself without encumbering filter bubbles that feed confirmation bias to make my perception of the internet happier and ads that force me to buy products that I don't need or want. I'd rather buy the products I want to after reading reviews and looking at spec sheets.

 

I would rather have free will than Google, and I hope you would too.

 

/rant

[Le Lion de Barreras]

I stopped using Adblock due to some Ads coming through and pop ups. Personally, I use another type of adblocker and so far it's great and blocks ads and website that Adblock didn't. But, this is why I use an Adblock not just because I dislike Ads but because there are some ads out there with pop ups that contain malware and viruses. Of course I white-list some certain sites. But so far it's adblock is a necessity with malicious ads out there.

[Trik'Stari]

Why doesn't some group like anonymous just make an adblocker that's free for everyone and release it?

 

Edit: With the choice of whitelisting given to the user.

[Builder]

Why doesn't some group like anonymous just make an adblocker that's free for everyone and release it?

 

Edit: With the choice of whitelisting given to the user.

It's called ABP. You can turn off whitelisting, I do it. Disconnect is also good. Anonymous isn't really a group, just a label that some people give themselves.

[elkenrod]

[dalekphalm]

Adblock.jpg

What is the point of this image? The text is entirely illegible. I assume you're referencing the Adblock ad?

 

Adblock Plus did that a while ago. They bought up a TON of ad space and ran their own ads.

[NInety]

 

20+ Single Asian Men in your local area.

[Legion]

there are two kinds of websites

1. are the ones with shit tons of insane ads and "this girl is near you and she wants to date you" BS

2.are the sane websites with a few ads that are actually geared for people who visit their websites  (anandtech pcper techpowerup tom's hardware etc)

 

i allow #2 web sites

and block #1

i normally Visit such websites when i really need something from them and i tell ad block to not block "sane" Ads

 

 

This I keep adblock for all the spammy sites and disable it for sites I frequently visit.(usually because they aren't spamming me with 9000 adverts at a time.

[elkenrod]

 

Adblock Plus did that a while ago. They bought up a TON of ad space and ran their own ads.

 

And it's working!?

[ForsakenLive]

Adblock should go away, but a better control on how ads and how many ads are display has to exist, a system that without spying on every website can control the ad flow. I believe browsers can become this tool in the future.

[Misanthrope]

Come on guys content creators know full well that this ads are annoying, if that wasn't the case why would they offer patreon rewards to remove them? Why would Twitch streamers offer subscriptions to avoid midrolls? The idea is very clear: drop a million, annoying while at the same time you guilt trip a few of your viewers into subscribing telling them you they want their support? At the very least they use both positive and negative reinforcement to try to get you to subscribe.

Sorry but any opinion that supports ads as the main form of revenue is biased.

[dalekphalm]

Adblock should go away, but a better control on how ads and how many ads are display has to exist, a system that without spying on every website can control the ad flow. I believe browsers can become this tool in the future.

Agreed. Honestly if there was better legal framework plus the major ad networks like Google Adsense enforced a unobtrusive ad network, then most people wouldn't have issues.

[Poledancerz]

I use adblock. 

However, I feel like a total ass for it. For sites like like YouTube and practically every other free website offering an amazing service.. Their main income is all from lousy ads. 

Without ads, I feel like most websites wouldn't exist or would have a mandatory premium service. However, if everyone is just going to be using adblock, there would be no point of paying websites to host ads which would cause a lot of websites to go under. 

I use adblock because of this one website for music, plug.dj, it's a website that allows people in a room to pick songs from youtube and soundcloud, but when ads would appear it greatly messes up everything. 

I suppose I could disable ad blocking for every other webstie, but that's a bit of a pain. And not having advertisements in front of videos is also pretty awesome. 

[zombiepixel]

I personally wish add block will always exist, but that's just me

i love how its the total opposite of the other comment lol

[zombiepixel]

i also made adblock unblock ltt cause ltt doesnt have annoying adds

[Mooshi]

Or maybe these companies should stop using shitty ads from the 90's that are either obnoxious or dangerous. A simple well placed banner would suffice. If all sites had taste in advertising, I wouldn't need to block them.

 

 

This so much.

[mr moose]

such a legal grey area this,  How can personal software that does not manipulate or download data outside of ones own personal computer/network be illegal.  Would me painting of parts of a poster I have hanging on my wall be just as illegal?

[snes]

I do as Linus says: I vote with my wallet ... sort of. I make sure to always have AdBlock on before coming to this place or watching any of his videos.

 

I diasabled AdBlock for a while but now that I have proof that this forum is run by biased people who actually support the MasterRace trolls instead of doing their best to make this the friendly community it was once supposed to be, I will gladly do my best to make sure that they make as little money as possible from my clicks. If they don't change their attitude, then I don't really care, whether or not they have to get real jobs and quit YouTube. Grow up, guys.

 

I don't leave comments on YouTube and I don't thumb up or down any of their videos. I also make sure to skip any and all of their ads.

[Kingofpants]

In my opinion adblock is gonna be the thing that screws the internet over.

So for all I care, it can go die in a hole and I will never use it.

Adblock is also a screw everyone else over dick move. If someone used adblock every website they go to will lose some revenue, when the company sees that they lose money and have to get more ads to support themselves. That just puts more ads on the honest guy.

Also unlike Piracy, revenue lost can be calculated by how many people used adblock vs how many pirated a game.

I hope one day Google makes it so no Google service can be used if an Adblocker is installed.

[Kingofpants]

I will gladly do my best to make sure that they make as little money as possible from my clicks.

If I ran this website I would IP ban you, As you are using their bandwidth and Server CPU time and being an asshat with the You scratch our back we will scratch yours deal of ads

[LAwLz]

What is the point of this image? The text is entirely illegible. I assume you're referencing the Adblock ad?

 

Adblock Plus did that a while ago. They bought up a TON of ad space and ran their own ads.

AdBlock and AdBlock Plus are two different programs.

It was AdBlock that bought ads and are in general pretty sleazy. Ad Block Plus are open source and transparent with everything they do, and allow non intrusive ads through.

[szewei]

Well the only reason I have ad block on is so I can browse pirate bay without porn adds....