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comment by wasoxygen
wasoxygen  ·  1301 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Online Privacy Should Be Modeled on Real-World Privacy

CNN is not a charity, to provide the service you demand they incur costs. Of course there are a variety of models but by far the most popular by Internet consensus is “free content” whatever the consequences.

It’s been interesting since I set up Pi-Hole. I used to think of ads as a kind of tax on browsing. Annoying and inevitable like junk mail, and at worst something that would make me spend less time online. But blocking ads made browsing much pleasanter. Everyone should do this ... but I hope they don’t so I can continue to be a free rider.

Some sites broke. I learned that family members actually click on the sponsored links in search results, even when the desired link appears just below.

Some sites detect the ad blocker and refuse to serve the content, with a polite explanation. Others request that I enable ads, but allow me to dismiss the request without complying.

I usually decline any kind of tracking, and would probably use the Apple feature, but I don’t assume I will have a better experience. I’ll just see more random ads and fewer targeted ads.





ecib  ·  1301 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Oh I totally agree that CNN is not a charity! But what is interesting is that I have ad blockers installed on my browser, and there a number of sites that recognize that, and refuse to load when it detects them unless I turn them off. Which is great, as it means the software I’ve installed to block the non-consensual Software from being loaded onto my hardware is working. And you know what? I’ve never granted permission and loaded an article I was trying to read when the price of admission was allowing it to load software onto my machine.

When consent exists and the choices are surfaced for the participants, different permissions manifest I think.

wasoxygen  ·  1301 days ago  ·  link  ·  

It sounds like you have found a good balance. You learned about the tech, you made an effort to install ad blocking, and now things are better.

That time and effort is a cost not everyone wants to make when they could be looking at more cat photos.

I asked around the house a week after Pi-Hole and nobody had noticed the change. I live with people who will watch a video with a banner covering the bottom quarter of the picture. Pity them if you will, but the bottom line is people who are tolerant of ads make CNN free for all of us.

It’s cool that Apple is experimenting with this feature, though they are also in the game. Usually the solution is to demand legislation to fix the problem, and we end up with the same internet but we have to accept cookies fifty times a day.

ecib  ·  1301 days ago  ·  link  ·  
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