Are you stealing content if you have an ad blocker?

[Arachno 1D]

its not like the adds are taking up Megabytes of bandwith and most internet users are using broadband connections so its hardly going to affect them to the level that

browsing the site comes makes them feel like they are on dial-up

 

perhaps neowin should have a wall of name and shame for those users who do adblock the site.

I could say theft is theft no matter what the amount, just because one might be a millionaire does not make stealing a pound from them any less of a theft as to wall of sham go ahead it would make no difference at all.At the end of the day its quite easy to ensure an income the owner makes it a paid subscriber only website other than that no income is guaranteed on any website.

[123456789A]

No, I think you're just practicing good security by blocking ads. Probably also saving some bandwidth too. If I'm on a metered connection, I don't want to pay to see advertisements.

 

Plus, everything just looks better without ads all over the place.

[Anibal P]

Ads ruin the internet 

 

I have one site whitelisted, guess which one? 

 

The world would be a better place if ALL ads were to be banned 

[FiB3R]

A couple of websites have given me a little popup saying something along the lines of "Hay, we notice you are using an ad blocker, please consider whitelisting this site, blah blah blah".

That was good enough for me to give them a chance.

Honestly can't remember which sites they were, or how the tests went, but I'm pretty sure if the ads were small, tasteful and static, I'd probably let them stay in the future.

Could there be some sort of gatekeeper run by websites, that sits between the ad providers and the pages the ads are displayed on?

I think that could give users an extra layer of security by stripping any tracking, catching annoying ads and eliminating malware before they go live on the site.

That would definitely give me incentive to whitelist.

Advertisers might not like it, but it's got to be better than me blocking them entirely, right?

[+Warwagon MVC]

I care more about the threat of Malvertizing.

[max22]

No.

[exotoxic]

No. I hate how ad companies make it out to be some sort of service to help you.

 

Another really annoying thing are the big high street shop websites, you go to check something out you might want to buy and are hit with 20 different analytics/beacons/advertising scripts, puts me right off.

[nub]

No.

[f0rk_b0mb]

I hate ads. I think we're done here...

[neufuse Veteran]

I have no problem with basic ad's but the ones that start playing movies, have annoying sound overs or try to take control of the page or go full page are just annoying

[tompkin]

I have no problem with basic ad's but the ones that start playing movies, have annoying sound overs or try to take control of the page or go full page are just annoying

Great point. If you want the best example of this bad behavior, go to Yahoo! and slowly scroll down the page. Every screen or so, there will be autoplay videos with sound, etc. (Yahoo makes another mistake in allowing their advertisements to resemble their content in order to trick the viewer into clicking one of them.)

 

Playing sound automatically when a page loads used to be considered bad page design. Now I just leave my sound muted unless I see something that I want to listen to.

[Ryoken]

I have ad's blocked on most sites. I'm on a limited and slow connection, and I finally had enough with Flash, Autoplaying Videos and Audio, etc. 

 

 

As to the question.. If you fastforward over commercials are you stealing content? I say no.

And if you do run an ad supported website, and you have good content, put a donation link. 

[DeusProto]

Because of the prevalence of 0day attacks through malvertising, it is a security necessity to ad block these days. The latest versions of various ransomware quickly latch onto the freshest Flash, Java, etc exploits - some being mere hours old - and silently install ransomware through ads.

[xWhiplash]

Something you guys haven't mentioned yet, what about services like OpenDNS?  A lot of sites have content blocking ads.  Which means ads need to load first before you see the page.  Sometimes OpenDNS makes a site load for 4 minutes.

 

And I am sorry, the only malware infection I have had in the last 5 years is due to malicious ads.  I have tried to allow ads, but now I block them due to the security risk.  I am really tired of almost every site on the internet filled with ads now.

 

I promised to never put advertising on my own site, and I am proud for doing that.  I do not need to worry about bad ads slipping through or breaking my site's layout.

[soniqstylz]

Here is a bit of the difference. In cable television, the ads are served to you "willy-nilly". There are no analytics involved so the ads aren't tailored to the individual viewer. In web ads, the ads are usually more tailored to the user.

 

Ads in television may not be catered to the individual, but they are aimed at a target audience for the show (eg, feminine hygiene products during day time TV, big trucks and erectile dysfunction ads during sports, sugary cereal during kids cartoons, etc.).

 

For the web, you can change "analytics" to "data mining".

[tuckeratlarge]

I don't know the business of Ads on websites. Do they pay for showing the ad or do they only pay if you click on one?

 

I have never, and never will, click on an ad. They are more annoying with their pop-ups, pop-unders, music, video etc. If you want to turn off an audience to ads that's the way to go.

 

Ads on telly or in newspapers, magazines are easily tuned out. However when you're trying to read something on the web and ads keep popping up or playing music/video, you are more likely to click away from the site, loosing viewers.

 

Unitil adblock plus came out some websites were unusable. For instance, my local newspaper's website is totally unusable on my iPad as I do not have an adblocker on it. The only way I can read the site is on my PC.

[Tomo]

Isn't this the same as recording a TV programme and fast forwarding through the ads? I haven't watched an ad on TV for a long time

[gohpep]

It's not theft because I have a right to privacy.

Isn't this the same as recording a TV programme and fast forwarding through the ads? I haven't watched an ad on TV for a long time

I just pause the TV for an hour and then watch.

I don't know the business of Ads on websites. Do they pay for showing the ad or do they only pay if you click on one?

It depends on the ad. Some ads are pay per view and some are pay per click.

[Xilo]

No.

 

Most websites look terrible with ads (Neowin included). They can also be extremely obnoxious. Ads along with crapware installed with free software is what causes a majority of mom and pop users to get viruses and load their computer down with so much crap it becomes unusable. I will never click on ads either.

 

I DVR all my shows on cable so I can fast forward through ads and if I'm watching something that's not been recorded, I just play games on my phone or something during commercials.

[firey]

I block ads.  Is it stealing? No.. I am not taking something away and keeping it for myself. 

[Tuskd]

I feel no. Although I have another question. Is "not clicking on an ad" even though it is present(non obstructive) equivalent to "using an ad block"? The advertiser benefits from the ad only when it is clicked on ( I am not talking about brand awareness, sure its there, but many ads don't have a brand to show off). So If I browse a site without clicking on any ad, I am of no use to the ad company or the site (on monetary basis) and if I use an ad blocker, I am still of no use to it. 

[spacer]

Until websites can guarantee that their ads never: play audio, obstruct content, slow down page load times, or contain malware I will never stop using an ad blocker. Since the current internet ad industry is not conducive to this type of auditing, I will probably never stop using an ad blocker.

 

Is it stealing? I would say technically not, but it does feel like it sometimes.

 

That being said, I have no problem white-listing websites I visit regularly. Those are sites I generally trust to be diligent about the ads they allow and fix any issues that may arise otherwise.

[A Real American!]

ads are fine as long as they are not covering half of the page and there are no popups. I'll click on ad if I like if. If you force automatic popups and half page ads, then you deal with my ad blocker.

[+LogicalApex MVC]

I used to have a very solid view of this as stealing and something that shouldn't be done by the user...

 

The rationale for my previous position was heavily written under the reality that the content creator deserves to be compensated for its content. After all, I don't go to McDonalds expecting to be fed for free. I felt this should be applied equally in the physical as well as the digital world. At the same time I hated ads, especially as they became more and more intrusive. I was an early advocate for adding subscriber support to Neowin mainly for this reason. I wanted the ads gone, but I also wanted the ability to pay for the content.

 

My views are no longer as solid as they once were and the problem is a result of the assault on privacy that modern ads are all clamoring for. Ever since Google Ads came out... Gone are the days of just showing you a generic ad and hoping you'd click on it. Internet Ads used to be purchased a lot like its TV or Print kin. Attempt to get an idea of the audience and then purchase ads that are shown indiscriminately to that audience and hope it goes well. That is no longer the case for Internet Ads. They now want to lob cookies on your machine and track you across everything you do. Allowing them to turn you into a marketable asset. To such an extent that I see modern Internet advertising as a sort of reverse theft (in that the Ad companies by way of the Content creator are stealing from us).

 

So my stance on Internet Advertising has adjusted to be very simple: Block all ads and trackers, including social media buttons. Buy a subscription to sites I enjoy when offered.

 

If a site only allows me to compensate them via ads then they don't get compensation from me. My privacy is far too valuable.

[DeusProto]

I just pause the TV for an hour and then watch.

I record it on my cable STB DVR and then capture it via my HDMI capture card and use VideoRedo TVSuite to automatically cut out the commercials and then I watch it in MPC-BE. It's a lot of work but I prefer it this way so I don't have to keep skipping.