Tell HN: Now Washington Post is asking to turn off Firefox's tracking protection

Post by mertd » Fri, Oct 12, 2018, 4:21 AM UTC

davidgh wrote: post #38

gwbas1c wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is the payment model is broken. I'm not going to subscribe to a site that I only want to read a single article. We need a way to pay a few cents to read an article, ad and tracker free.

Agree. I hope someone comes up with a “Netflix for online content”. I’m not going to subscribe to a dozen news sites individually and I also don’t want to make a purchase decision, even if tiny, every time I visit a site. For me a bundle of the top 10-15 high-quality news sites, perhaps letting me choose from different packages at different price points, and allocate the revenue to sites based on which content I read…

Post by paulie_a » Fri, Oct 12, 2018, 4:23 AM UTC

jimmaswell wrote: post #36

gwbas1c wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is the payment model is broken. I'm not going to subscribe to a site that I only want to read a single article. We need a way to pay a few cents to read an article, ad and tracker free.

Ads and tracking are honestly just fine and a perfectly good compromise. Fears over them are greatly exaggerated.

Post by rebuilder » Fri, Oct 12, 2018, 4:25 AM UTC

newsbinator wrote: post #39

larkeith wrote: post #8

Any time a site asks me to disable tracking protection, it has the curious effect of reinforcing my desire to leave it enabled - that site has made it clear that they are intentionally and unapologetically violating my privacy for a quick buck.

It's like a grocery store employee sidling up while you wait in line at the checkout, and politely asking you to put away your phone so you can examine the impulse-buy items on the racks around the checkout. They remind you that having a good grocery store in your neighborhood is important, and don't you want to support that?

Post by mdex » Fri, Oct 12, 2018, 4:29 AM UTC

_lqaf wrote: post #35

johnnylambada wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the problem with this line of thinking is that newspaper people need to actually make a buck. Or else there are no newspapers.

I agree that news outlets serve an important function. That's exactly why it is especially disheartening to see them turn into organs of surveillance capitalism. Regardless, if you attempt to extort me with a choice between privacy or an uninformed populace, I'll happily share my view on where exactly you can stick that and spin. There are decent media outlets doing good work out there who can report and respect thei…

Post by exikyut » Fri, Oct 12, 2018, 4:32 AM UTC

runn1ng wrote: post #50

paulgb wrote: post #40

What infuriates me about WaPo is that even though I pay for it, their site is pretty much unusable without an ad blocker. The text jumps around as I scroll to make room for dynamically loaded ads. And then there are the bottom-feeding Outbrain (or whatever vendor they use) ads at the bottom of the article. It's a mess.

Washington Post have a secret, hidden "Premium EU Ad-Free" subscription that removes all the ads. You have to go specifically here and click on the third option - but NOT when you have a subscription already (you need to cancel it first) https://www.washingtonpost.com/gdpr-consent/ Despite "EU" and "GDPR" in the name, it works outside of EU too