Is Adblock internet piracy?

[itachipirate]

A lot of people use some kind of Ad blocking software on their web browsers to block annoying ads. But shouldn't blocking Ads be consider pirating content?

 

When a game developer makes a game, time and money goes into making original content that they expect to make profit off of. When somebody pirates a game, they receive the content the developer created without the developer making any money

 

When a website developer makes a website, they make money off of selling ad space. Their goal may be to make profit off of just the ads, or just to hope that their ad revenue will be enough to pay for server hosting and other expenses. When somebody visits a page with adblock, they receive the content of the website without the developer making any money

 

What is the bad part about internet piracy? That you don't have to pay, or that the content creator is not making money off of their work?

 

It's illegal to download paid music, games, and movies and piracy is often compared to stealing. The big problem is that somebody worked hard to create something, released it with the intention of making some amount of money in return for the content they created, and people are receiving this content without the creator making money. But still Adblock isn't considered piracy, and is even allowed by Google and Mozilla?

 

But isn't Adblock be worse than piracy? Pirating content that costs money is one thing, but to deny money to content creators that were actually providing you with their content with no cost to you? You don't even have to pay. They will make money even if you ignore the advertisements on their websites

 

Share your thoughts on this below, I want to know what you guys think

[Tim Drake]

lol no

 

Nowhere in the Terms & Conditions does it say to view this site that we are required to view adverts.

[Guest]

Try downloading some Minecraft mods without Adblock+

PS: Good luck removing thousands of virusus

[itachipirate]

lol no

 

Nowhere in the Terms & Conditions does it say to view this site that we are required to view adverts.

That's a good point. There's not really a legal way to make people see your ads like there's a legal way to enforce a price tag

[Aurora906]

Ads can kiss my a$$  

[ImBleu]

I'll be the devil's advocate here, I've never thought of it this way - that blocking ads is in a way pirating. While it isn't technically, I understand where you are coming from and I'm considering removing my adblock from all websites that dont have intrusive ads.

[LegacyStijncat]

I only whitelist my add block on sites and youtubers I respect. I'll never block an add here on LTT, or will I on Linus' videos and some others (There's no proof yet if addblock affects youtube currency earnt, but chances are that they don't earn j*** s*** if you block YT adds)

[Snickerzz]

Use ublock, it blocks ads just like adblock plus, but triggers the ads API to think it got viewed. So you aren't taking away from youtubers and such

[Tim Drake]

Use ublock, it blocks ads just like adblock plus, but triggers the ads API to think it got viewed. So you aren't taking away from youtubers and such

That's cheating

[TwOne]

AdBlock isn't illegal in anyway. Compare it to real life. You might get ads in your face, but you can choose to ignore them. On the internet however ads can block the page you're trying to access, and be more disruptive and/or malicious than in real life. With AdBlock you can choose which ads you want to ignore basically.

[itachipirate]

AdBlock isn't illegal in anyway. Compare it to real life. You might get ads in your face, but you can choose to ignore them. On the internet however ads can block the page you're trying to access, and be more disruptive and/or malicious than in real life. With AdBlock you can choose which ads you want to ignore basically.

In real life adspace isn't sold based on how many people viewed it. On the internet there are trackers counting the amount of people who view the webpage with the advertisement loaded

[itachipirate]

I'll be the devil's advocate here, I've never thought of it this way - that blocking ads is in a way pirating. While it isn't technically, I understand where you are coming from and I'm considering removing my adblock from all websites that dont have intrusive ads.

It isn't technically illegal, and I hate intrusive ads. But it has the same, worst effect that piracy has. The creator isn't making money

[Bsmith]

don't get web devs get money for MAKING the site and selling it to the company that requested it?

the only way ads are good for the web dev is when he has a agreement to place the ad's on said site and keep all/part of the ad revenue coming in.

[79 Potatoes]

That's cheating

Why? What if I'm one of those people that NEVER pay attention to ads nor buy something because of them?

[colonel_mortis]

don't get web devs get money for MAKING the site and selling it to the company that requested it?

the only way ads are good for the web dev is when he has a agreement to place the ad's on said site and keep all/part of the ad revenue coming in.

If we take this site as an example, the main costs are the hosting of the forum, the DDoS protection, the software that we're using, the modifications that have been added, and to pay Luke to spend a significant amount of time managing the site. I would be very surprised if the ad revenue from this site, with a lot of the people here using adblock, covers this.

 

Having ads is good for web developers because if the site didn't have ads, it would probably have to shut down, so the developer would be unemployed. It doesn't matter how the developer gets paid - if the site that they work for has to shut down or scale down due to lack of revenue, they are out of a job.

 

I understand that adblockes are very useful for some websites where there are popups and flashing ads all over the place. However, most websites aren't like that, so as a web developer, I would ask that you disable adblock on sites that have unintrusive adverts that don't get in the way of your browsing experience (this site being one of them). I know that most people won't, but by blocking ads, you either make the ads much worse for the other people using the site, or you cause the site to become paid or even shut down.

[EIijah]

It's like games which are based on donations, you can pay for them if you want to support the dev or not. A lot of websites ask that if you enjoy the forum or what ever that you turn adblock off to support them

[Bsmith]

-snips-

I understand that adblockes are very useful for some websites where there are popups and flashing ads all over the place. However, most websites aren't like that, so as a web developer, I would ask that you disable adblock on sites that have unintrusive adverts that don't get in the way of your browsing experience (this site being one of them). I know that most people won't, but by blocking ads, you either make the ads much worse for the other people using the site, or you cause the site to become paid or even shut down.

 

hmmm this actually sums up the reason why it have adblock, this and youtube are actually the only whitelist site's that have my complete support

[Castdeath97]

Unless the day comes where internet adverts finally get child friendly, click trick free, fraud and spam free I will consider leaving ad block. Until then only websites I'm truly fateful for their content get the bonus of being white-listed. I know I'm pirating, but I'm protecting myself and others who use my computers and computers I maintain, and while its not the content creators fault that ads are like this, it's my only option.

[Castdeath97]

hmmm this actually sums up the reason why it have adblock, this and youtube are actually the only whitelist site's that have my complete support

Weird becuase the first website I'll black list if possible would be YouTube, I hate their slide up ads that only appear after a while.

[Bsmith]

Weird becuase the first website I'll black list if possible would be YouTube, I hate their slide up ads that only appear after a while.

 

i have it whitelisted because i actually only watch video's from channels i subbed too, when i go to something else i automaticly turn it on because of the shit i dont want to be put on with when i want to watch some random video's

[Dabombinable]

1. Its not piracy-please look up the definition

2. There are a lot of times where blocking ads is a good thing-drive by malware and so on

3. If people got forced to view ads on a website/channel etc then it would only hurt said site/channel.

[Sauron]

No... not watching ads is not against the law...

[MatthewEnderle]

If you have adblocker chances are you won't click ads anyway.

[itachipirate]

1. Its not piracy-please look up the definition

2. There are a lot of times where blocking ads is a good thing-drive by malware and so on

3. If people got forced to view ads on a website/channel etc then it would only hurt said site/channel.

I know by definition blocking ads is not piracy but by blocking ads you are effectively committing the worst part of internet piracy, you are depriving the content creator of revenue that would ultimately allow them to create more of the content you enjoy

 

Yes blocking ads is good for things like that. LinusTechTips.com has some relevant ads that are completely non-intrusive and actually considerable and helpful, and some other non-intrusive garbage ads. (The "see also" section underneath a post) Other websites have ads that really get in the way and blocking ads on those websites is great

 

Being forced to view ads doesn't hurt a website or channel. Maybe if people think "Oh I like this content but this website has ads I hate this website now I won't visit it" instead of "I really like this website, and it's free thanks to some non-intrusive advertisements" ads can hurt a website or channel. But that's assinine thinking (Except in cases of intrusive advertisements)

[michaelk12]

I used to not use adblock on YouTube, to support creators, but it's gone overboard with 3-4 ads in the middle of a video, I don't mind watching one before the video but dang... I don't use it on LTT either. It isn't piracy, because your viewing of the content is not legally conditional on you watching the ads, like it would be if paying for something. You are REQUIRED to PAY for a game/movie before playing it for example.