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Ad blocking is under attack

blog.adguard.com

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Re: Ad blocking is under attack

#571

Post by alphapapa »

thecrazyone wrote: post #423
Gracana wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd rather just go a level up... You don't want users to tamper with your ads? Ok, we'll block your entire site. No tampering.

users of your list will not get this. And will stop using your list. This ending up not serving your purpose nor theirs. For instance, let me go out on a limb and point out how some distros of linux insist on shipping without any non-free software. So, a user ends up having to go through hoops to just get an audio of video file playing. I think the analogy Im going for is, you don't want to play by our rules (our lic…

> users of your list will not get this. And will stop using your list. This ending up not serving your purpose nor theirs.

I disagree. Users use adblock lists to protect themselves. This company has proven that they are actively hostile to users. Blocking their entire site, all of their domains, etc, is a sensible precaution for users to take. I have no doubt that this company serves JavaScript (i.e. executable code) that serves their purposes, not users'. And any other sites that insist on using their services are also hostile to users, and blocking them is sensible as well.

If some users just have to see that site, they can either find another list (who cares, no one's doing this for Internet Points), or they can click the "Add Exception" button.

We need not submit ourselves to be effectively held hostage by hostile content providers. It's just content.

Re: Ad blocking is under attack

#572

Post by alphapapa »

jlarocco wrote: post #103
zanny wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> currently the two parties are deadlocked in a power struggle You mean since about 1790? There have always been two parties in congress (minus the era of good feelings) and they have always had opposing ideology, and have almost always blocked one another's proposals. It is very naive to think the current Republican congress is anything different or new. Their inaction is intentional - they need to pass their anti-c…

> You mean since about 1790? There have always been two parties in congress (minus the era of good feelings) and they have always had opposing ideology, and have almost always blocked one another's proposals. That's by design, actually. The goal was never to create a government that can efficiently create a million laws and regulations. The point of having multiple parties is that each of them will block each other a…

> The point of having multiple parties is that each of them will block each other and only the laws and regulations that everybody can agree on will actually get through.

Gridlock is part of the design, yes. But consensus or unanimity are not. The simple majority rules, except for the cases defined in the Constitution, such as constitutional amendments. The Senate's filibuster is not how the Senate is supposed to function.

Re: Ad blocking is under attack

#573

Post by PeanutCurry »

kelnos wrote: post #429
jxramos wrote: post #296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure if its a matter of forgetting but about not knowing the contours of the boundaries of what's permissible and seeing a straightforward workaround as a proposition which also serves to give feedback regarding why or why not the proposition would be tenable. Evaluating a concrete technical solution in light of some legal matter should do well to illuminate and draw attention to the crux of the problem. I gu…

It's not specifically about the DMCA; it's about legal issues in general. Intent matters in the vast majority of law. You'd be hard-pressed to argue in front of a judge that your intent wasn't to block this specific site, based on the sequence of events: 1. Site added to block list. 2. Site removed from block list due to DMCA takedown request. 3. Site block by new rule added that doesn't target it directly. I can't i…

This is one of those areas where I'd say it comes down to your lawyer. I agree with the general premise being presented, that sometimes the tech community tries to use technology to circumvent problems that aren't technological. That being said, in this specific instance the most effective defense would probably be something to the extent of "Your honor, based on the advice of my legal staff and my own understanding of the law, I was not in direct violation of the DMCA. For this reason, it seemed only logical that the issue must have been that the manner in which I was operating was the problem and not the outcomes of my operation. For this reason, in an attempt to comply with the notice I received, I revised my software to remedy what I understood to be the problem."

Re: Ad blocking is under attack

#575

Post by Markoff »

porker wrote: post #195
anilgulecha wrote: post #32

It was admiral that did this: https://blog.getadmiral.com/dmca-easylist-adblock-copyright-... They even clearly state they used the only tool available to them, DCMA. From all the current summaries on this, DMCA does not apply to a line entry in easylist. A domain can be trademarked. This should be added back in. And if github cannot standup to DMCA abuse, then well, easylist and all other developers should be giving…

In which countries could you host, where the DMCA isn't applicable or enforced?

anywhere but US, already EU countries definition of legality of streaming should be enough to safely just filters lists

from what i remember Spain and Central Europe are very laid back regarding your rights to non-commercial steaming of copies of works you don't actually own

Re: Ad blocking is under attack

#576

Post by ascorbic »

AnthonyMouse wrote: post #500
ascorbic wrote: post #467

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're not claiming copyright on the domain name. They're saying that by blocking it, they're violating the anti-circumvention clauses of the DMCA.

Since when does the anti-circumvention section of the DMCA have anything to do with the notice-and-takedown section of the DMCA?

It doesn't, legally. It does in this case though, because GitHub says to use the same mechanism for takedowns and anti-circumvention requests.

Re: Ad blocking is under attack

#577

Post by Markoff »

rnhmjoj wrote: post #428
pantalaimon wrote: post #390

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Russia and China come to mind.

Not exactly safe heavens for internet hosting.

safe enough for above adblocker lists

Sweden comes to mind too hosting WikiLeaks, so i am pretty sure some irrelevant ad blockers are certainly not big deal

Re: Ad blocking is under attack

#578

Post by ascorbic »

jfoutz wrote: post #505
ascorbic wrote: post #467

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're not claiming copyright on the domain name. They're saying that by blocking it, they're violating the anti-circumvention clauses of the DMCA.

Oh, that's way more interesting. So they have standing? I can see the argument that altering the execution of the program sent to the users computer is a DMCA violation (i vehemently disagree, but i can see it). But i don't think they didn't actually wrote the page that's delivered to the user.

I'd imagine it would technically need to be the publisher or the agent that took legal action. This was clearly an experiment though. Expect much more widespread use and, I'd assume, a court case soon.

Re: Ad blocking is under attack

#579

Post by Markoff »

delegate wrote: post #89

As I understand they're using copyright laws not to prevent me from copying content, but to preventing me from not consuming content. In other words, the copyright law is used to force content consumption.

you better not watch Black mirror 15 million merits

Re: Ad blocking is under attack

#580

Post by yrro »

btym wrote: post #497
yrro wrote: post #476

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What common audio/video codecs/formats require non-free software to play?

DVD, MPEG-2, Flash, MP3 (at least, until all of its patents expire by the end of the year).

What non-free code is required to play back DVDs or MP3s?

Flash I will give you, though it has been an irrelevance to me since YouTube went HTML5.

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