Adblocking software: Is it akin to piracy?

[Roy Cura]

Lord Balmung of Azure Sky

Roy Cura

I can see the argument that looking at a page/article without seeing the ads is equivalent to piracy.

But don’t companies make the most money from people clicking on those ads? I’m going to make the wild assumption that a person who installs Adblock wasn’t a person who was going to click on a lot of ads in the first place.

Depends on the ad. If it's something like adwords, then yes.

Your assumption is actually correct.
But as as always, we love to hate and put the blame on a group of people, and that's something I sometimes see from working in web development and marketing, especially when we or the client have decided to use pay-per-click ads. They may even go so far as to block a person's access to the website if they've detected adblock, despite the fact that the person likely wouldn't have clicked on ads anyway, as you said.

It's this sort of quick-draw based on misunderstanding that led me to ask you lot about what you thought about it..

I listen to a podcast called the “Biggest problem in the universe” that is now making money by producing bonus content that listeners can pay for if they want it.

In other words, it is on the burden of the content provider to come up with some viable model to get people to keep listening to his/her words. Are they too great for a free site like YouTube or Blogger? What makes them great enough to host their own damn domain, and why should I be interested in keeping them going?

If they’re not willing to cover the cost themselves for their own content, why should anyone else be expected to, unless that content is great? If that content is actually worth a half pound of s**t, then it will generate the cost of a half pound of s**t. Maybe more or less, pending on the client and the audience.

[karmatwelve]

◄ "Adblocking software: Is it akin to piracy?"

The answer is definitively no. What gives companies the right to track me and store unwanted on my computer, a machine I legally own? Why should I have to give up my right to internet anonymity? Just because I appreciate a website's service, does not mean I am under any obligation to let them profit using my computer, my internet service, my browser, or my OS. If a website does not make enough money via ads because of ad block they should change their business model. tl;dr It's not the users problem.

Opening yourself up to random ads, cookies and even scripts is dangerous and it's an unnecessary risk I shouldn't have to take. Would you download random .exe files and run them in your OS without an antivirus / firewall? Then why would you allow a bunch of ads / cookies to run on your browser when there's a possibility they are malicious? I started using ad block among other things when my browser had self installing extensions which hid themselves in my OS. Now that I've taken more preventive measures, I haven't had any issues. I white list sites I support on occasion, but not every site. Not all sites or ad publishers are trustworthy. It's not a crime to protect yourself on a computer you own. Especially, if you shop online / use your computer for business.►

[Mooby the Golden Sock]

Yes, of course using AdBlocking software is piracy. Using a pop-up blocker is piracy, too. You are stealing web content while denying revenue.

DVRing a television show and fast forwarding through the commercials is piracy, as well. As is flipping channels back and forth through commercials. As is getting up from your chair to use the bathroom or get a snack during a commercial. Don't you know the ads support your shows? Have some respect and do that stuff during the show itself. The same goes to listening to radio stations in your car.

Also, if you go to a professional sports game and watch the teams without taking the time to look at every logo, you're nothing but a common thief. Same goes if you drive down the highway or take a stroll in the park without looking at billboards. How dare you enjoy a piece of property without consuming the advertisement a company paid to put there!

Of course, the most despicable scum of the Earth are those who hang up on telemarketers. How dare you! You are stealing away someone else's livelihood by not listening to the entire sales pitch!

Also, what is this about piracy? This is capitalism, bitches. It is the company's job to invest in security measures and lobby for laws that protect its content, and then find a way to deliver said content to me in a way that makes me want to buy from them. They can do this by making piracy slightly inconvenient for me while not acting like giant douchebags who make me want to find whatever way I can of getting the content from anyone but them.

[DynaSuarez Wrecks]

I'd be less inclined to use ad blockers if the sites with ads would just have a little courtesy for the traffic. If there are pop-ups on your site, you're doing it wrong. If your page stretches horizontally because of ads, you're doing it wrong. If my browser space is 90% ads, you're doing it wrong. And most importantly, if your ads are dangerous, you're doing it wrong. For ******** sake, I've even seen antimalware websites with ads for known malware!

[nitznitz]

If protecting my computer and refusing tasteless bullshit just because I dared enter a site makes me a pirate, I'll make a bigger pirate name out of myself than ******** Redbeard. ******** your "not being our money suckers is piracy" bullshit! You want money, you earn it. Not get some assholes with spyware and phishing scams to get a cut from.

[Heimdalr]

Most internet ads are pyramid schemes, freemium games or malware. I have no qualms blocking them from getting access to my personal device, and companies who would like such websites to connect to my personal computer would have to make it a requirement for accessing their content (which I may reject) or vouch for their responsibility in a credible manner (which they will never do)
Adblock is the bare minimum of consumer awareness that I will recommend to each and every customer when they are concerned about anything from privacy to safety to simply not getting annoyed by everything on the internet right off the bat.

[Annata Cannata]

If companies want people to stop blocking thair ads, we're going to have to meet in the middle here. No more loud, invasive ads that might give you a virus or something. And whats with those ads that take you other websites you never wanted to go to? Do they really expect you to say "well I wanted to go to the website I typed in but I'll just browse this completely unrelated site instead." What the hell were they thinking??

[DarkSohisohi]

Not really, adblock is like having the ability to switch the channel on your TV. If your show goes to cameral, and you change the channel to something else (until your show returns), are you a pirate. Likewise, some ad revenue is determined not by view (or that is on the site) but by clicks onto the ads. So by not licking the ads, are you a pirate?

No, the content is free, regardless of ad revenue.

[God Emperor Baldur]

Ad blocking is akin to piracy if ads are akin to espionage.

[Maltese_Falcon91]

Lord Balmung of Azure Sky

But here's a question, and something I'd like to open to discussion; is blocking ads on a site piracy?

I look at it like this: If I turned off adblock, browsed a few sites and opened a few tabs, there's a good chance I'd get a bunch of autorun flash ads all playing at once, with no quick way to stop them. Irritating, annoying, and before Google Chrome updated itself, there was no way to tell which tab or tabs were playing audio.

That right there? That's a Letter of Marque.

[Riviera de la Mancha]

Lord Balmung of Azure Sky

I'm aware very few think that adblocking software is wrong; even those of us who run websites and run ads on said websites use Adblock. But here's a question, and something I'd like to open to discussion; is blocking ads on a site piracy?

Many websites use ad revenue in order to survive, such as to pay for site costs such as the running of servers, hosting, and even to pay their staff. Even Youtube vloggers use ads, both graphic and video ads, in their videos.

Of course, someone using this software will experience faster loading times on web pages and a lower bandwidth cost of their own, as well as not be annoyed by ads. And there is no end user agreement that is accepted when you visit a web site, unlike purchased video games, movies, and television shows. However, some websites go so far as to block a user's access to their website if they have detected an adblocking software.

You are using a site's bandwidth, consuming their material (videos, articles, forums), and likely benefiting from usage of their website, while not just ignoring the ads or refusing to click on them, but by actually circumventing them.

So, is using adblocking software akin to piracy?
Or another way to ask, since there is quite a difference between pirating a movie and blocking ads; can we even compare blocking ads on websites to piracy, or is it ultimately like trying to compare apples and oranges?

No, because it doesn't fit the definition of piracy.

[Rebeldoomer]

Before Youtube was bought by Google many years ago.
I didn't mind the Ad at the upper right corner.
But today with Google, they have video ads now.

I decided to install Ad Block on my web browser because sometimes Google's annoying video ads does not have the Skip Ads button.

[Plata Plomo y Sangre]

I use adblock with my TV; I tevo what I watch and fastforward or I just get up and go get a soda. Are the companies that provide these commercials going to argue that I need to sit and watch the commercial?

[Sir Deranged Reindeer]

I pretty much can't stand using the internet without Adblock on. I don't want ads, especially the annoying kind with sound, movies, popups, viruses, etc. cluttering up content that I'm actually interested in seeing. I don't see anything of Youtube Ads because I'm so focused on the 5 second count down to skip.

If a site is good, they will provide me with a product or service that I'm willing to pay money for out of my own pocket, rather than bombarding me with irrelevant advertising.

...I also don't watch TV channels or VOD services that have ads. And to be honest, any advertising I do see tends to just irritate rather than anything else, which puts me off buying a product.

[Flaming Tsunami]

I think it is.

There is very little web content that is actually free--I don't think people understand that. Most of the time, if you are using a service for "free" you are actually selling your attention. Free websites are paid for by ad revenue--you sell your eyeballs so the host can continue to provide you with content. That is the contract of the internet, so to speak.

Blocking ads that you, by way of using a website, agreed to view is stealing that content. You aren't paying your dues for using it. If a YouTuber, for example, has ads on their video, they are essentially saying that their service is no longer free to you. You must pay for it by giving the ads your attention.

You don't get to "choose who you support" without stealing from people you don't wish to support. If you don't like, for example, Hobby Lobby's politics and you don't want to support them, you don't do so by waltzing in their store and taking their goods without paying for them. You don't go there in the first place.