Google, Microsoft, Amazon pay Eyeo to stop ad blocks -report

Discussion in 'privacy general' started by niki, Feb 2, 2015.

  1. niki

    niki Registered Member

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    Google, Microsoft, Amazon and Taboola have quietly paid Eyeo to stop ads on their sites, the Financial Times reported. Eyeo is the publisher behind Adblock Plus and said the software has been downloaded more than 300 million times worldwide and has more than 50 million monthly active users. German media groups including RTL and ProSiebenSat.1 are seeking damages from Eyeo. French publishers are also considering whether to follow suit.

    ... More info at link: http://www.telecompaper.com/news/google-microsoft-amazon-pay-eyeo-to-stop-ad-blocks-report--1062707
     
  2. mirimir

    mirimir Registered Member

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    As long as they're just getting added to the optional whitelist, no problem :)
     
  3. Rasheed187

    Rasheed187 Registered Member

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    As long as ads are acceptable I haven't got a problem with them. It's the ads industry who damaged themselves.

    https://acceptableads.org/en/
     
  4. mirimir

    mirimir Registered Member

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    Any ad system that accepts arbitrary ads, without full testing of each one, is an unacceptable security risk. There is almost guaranteed exposure to malicious sites of various sorts, including exploit droppers. The only ads that are arguably safe are self created and vetted by each website.
     
  5. siljaline

    siljaline Registered Member

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    Google, Microsoft, and Amazon are paying to get around Adblock Plus
    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/02/02/google_amazon_taboola_microsoft_adplock_plus_unblock/
    See also: Controversy over ad filtering and ad whitelisting
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adblock_Plus#Controversy_over_ad_filtering_and_ad_whitelisting
     
  6. RockLobster

    RockLobster Registered Member

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    These corporations think they own the internet and they therefore have the right to decide what our computers should process and display when using it.
     
  7. mirimir

    mirimir Registered Member

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    Well, if Adblock Plus turns, we have Adblock Edge. And if they turn, there will be another fork.
     
  8. Alhaitham

    Alhaitham Registered Member

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    They are NOT hiding it and totally honest and open about it

    This has been on the website since the "acceptable ads" started

    https://adblockplus.org/en/acceptable-ads-agreements

    Personally: No problem with it at all
     
  9. Nebulus

    Nebulus Registered Member

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    They have no way to pay to get around the rules I set up in ABP, so I don't really care :)
     
  10. Mayahana

    Mayahana Banned

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    uBlock or Adguard?

    Also I block ads on the gateway level (UTM), so they can pay anyone they want, I will still block them. I view all advertising as a scourge. I even block them on my TV, and use skipping mechanisms on hacked Tivo's. To say I hate them is probably an understatement.
     
  11. TheWindBringeth

    TheWindBringeth Registered Member

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    Were the startup blocking problems in the v2.6 line ever fixed?
     
  12. acr1965

    acr1965 Registered Member

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    ABP needs to call a spade a spade. They are a multi-million dollar business that has made many people very wealthy. But that's the nature of a popular "open source" projects.
     
  13. Nebulus

    Nebulus Registered Member

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    That never happened to me (however keep in mind that I have a pretty short list of custom filters).
     
  14. elapsed

    elapsed Registered Member

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    Still rocking ABP with that list disabled, no problems.

    I guess I'm one of the few that recognizes the brilliance of managing to get companies to pay you to keep working on software that involves blocking their ads. They are paying to be on an optional whitelist that everyone disables. Genius. The devs get a salary to work on their pet project and it keeps getting improved.

    I can understand peoples general concern over it, I would have the same concern depending on what the paid feature was. In this case, it's nothing but a text-based list that can be disabled. It would be a different matter if it was some form of advertising in the addon itself, even if it could be disabled, I would be gone. It's a fine line, but they haven't crossed it in my opinion.
     
  15. Dermot7

    Dermot7 Registered Member

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    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-32903235

    https://adblockplus.org/blog/anothe...us-win-for-ad-blocking-and-acceptable-ads-too
     
  16. acr1965

    acr1965 Registered Member

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    https://adblockplus.org/blog/anothe...us-win-for-ad-blocking-and-acceptable-ads-too[/QUOTE]
    Adblock Plus is ran like a for profit business. Don't let them fool anyone in this regard. I have no problem with ABP making money. But it is ironic and disappointing to see them as "anti" advertising while at the same time putting out false and misleading advertising and press reports about who they are and what they are.
     
  17. mirimir

    mirimir Registered Member

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    ABP works fine for me :) If they want to earn a little through conning some mix of users and advertisers, that's cool.
     
  18. The Red Moon

    The Red Moon Registered Member

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    I personally feel this anti-advertising regime on the internet is slowly getting out of hand.
    First off private businesses and companies are perfectly entitled to advertise as they are in any other medium.The internet is a powerful medium in which to advertise.

    For example lets say we as the general public do not like advertising in the general press,would we suddenly start not reading newspapers etc.?
    I think its good that the user has the ability to stop this intrusive advertising on the internet but we must remember that commerce and peoples livelihoods may depend on such adverts.
    I get the feeling that the majority of people complaining about ads are not really in a business sector at all.True we do not wish to visit websites full of ads but as far as im concerned small and large businesses have advertised for years and are not doing anything which could be construed as criminal or such like.
     
  19. MisterB

    MisterB Registered Member

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    And we as users who pay for our computers and internet bandwidth have all the right in the world to block every single piece of advertising if we so choose.

    Ironic that Governments and institutions engage in all kinds of censorship, a lot of it trivial liking blocking torrent sites, but if individuals start doing their own censorship of what really bothers them, intrusive advertising, it becomes an issue for the same corporations that promote censorship of things they don't like like torrent sites.
     
  20. The Red Moon

    The Red Moon Registered Member

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    Advertisements are part of life.
    Would the international press remove all its advertisements just to please some that dont like ad,s..?
    At least with the internet we have the good grace to be able to control the sensationalist advertising that occurs but lets not forget as i have said before that business folks are entitled to advertise nevertheless.
    We as end users cant always have our cake and eat it.
    We as end users do not have the monopoly on internet advertising or the right to proclaim that others cannot advertise if they wish to do so.
     
  21. deBoetie

    deBoetie Registered Member

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    @The Red Moon - I don't think the RL press analogy holds fully for a very important reason - you don't get malware from the printed page. The business people need to get their act together, because at the moment, it's like going to a mall where many people know who you are, your every movement and every preference will be scrutinised, and someone can mug you at any time. Not good for the customers, not good for business.

    An opt out - even if paid for - should be mandatory. But then, people expect free and ethical - never going to happen.
     
  22. MisterB

    MisterB Registered Member

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    The advertisers have the right to advertise, we, the users have the right to block them for whatever reason we choose. the only problem comes when the advertisers try to interfere with that right.
     
  23. niki

    niki Registered Member

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    True that! If only the advertisements on www were like newspapers - i.e. not flashing, blaring and possibly not containing malware, then I would probably go with allowing the quiet ones. When I was new to having a PC I got bitten by one advertisement by clicking on it. Not understanding what happened because my homepage was changed a friend had to help me out getting whatever was on the PC. So as soon as when ABP came into being on Fx I installed it and never looked back. Being now in my mid seventies I hate the above-mentioned ads with a passion.
     
    Last edited: May 28, 2015
  24. Dermot7

    Dermot7 Registered Member

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    I fully agree, and this is advocating a similar viewpoint, and highlights some of the stark dangers increasingly associated with online advertisments nowadays, and their frequent malicious intent.

    From (Ruya · 2015-05-28 00:25) comments for: https://adblockplus.org/blog/anothe...us-win-for-ad-blocking-and-acceptable-ads-too
     
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