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Spotify will now suspend or terminate accounts it finds are using ad blockers

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Re: Spotify will now suspend or terminate accounts it finds are using ad blockers

#761

Post by logifail »

v_lisivka wrote: post #590
munk-a wrote: post #553

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The legal enforceability of the TOS isn't really important here, when you use a service there are conditions with that service. Go ahead and try walking into starbucks, paying for half of a tall americano and walking out the door with half of a tall americano. Service providers have the inherent right to place conditions and limits on the services they provide.

IMHO, the more correct analogy will be to walk into cinema and watch cinema without paying for pop-corn, despite the fact that theater makes most of their profit on pop-corn. I have no obligation to make a business profitable.

>> I have no obligation to make a business profitable.

Do we have an obligation to allow script in our browsers? >90% of my "news reading" on the internet is done with NoScript running; from my point of view it's all good, no ads, no GDPR pop-ups, pages load quickly, fewer worries about tracking.

It's probably not what publishers want, though.

Re: Spotify will now suspend or terminate accounts it finds are using ad blockers

#763

Post by kaikai »

voidpointercast wrote: post #638
birksherty wrote: post #296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 2 coffees for a month Where is that price from? What if I live in a poor country and price of 2 cup of coffee is $0.40?

Yeah I wanna know what kind of coffee this dude is drinking. Even at the most expensive places US side it's That said, full disclosure I'm a notorious pirate on the dread sea qbittorrent with little qualms about denying others profit; so take anything with a massive grain of salt.

> Even at the most expensive places US side it's Not true; I live in the US and a coffee from a fancy place is easily >$5. A starbucks frappawhatever is way more.

Re: Spotify will now suspend or terminate accounts it finds are using ad blockers

#764

Post by themacguffinman »

tomohawk wrote: post #757
fastball wrote: post #518

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You do NOT have a right to use the service "partially" (by blocking ads), as blocking ads on their free plan is against the ToS.

Spotify does NOT have the right to run arbitrary code on my device. That is not something that fits into the category of me using their service. That rather fits into the category of me being forced to provide a service to Spotify.

Spotify isn't reaching into your computer and running ads, you are running Spotify. If you don't want Spotify and its dependencies, you can simply not run Spotify.

Re: Spotify will now suspend or terminate accounts it finds are using ad blockers

#765

Post by scoot_718 »

cletus wrote: post #255

Good. Spotify has a pretty cheap paid option that removes all of that. To those who justify wanting the paid service for nothing by saying Spotify won't "take responsibility" or "assume liability" for their ads or those ads "might deliver malware" or are "intrusive" as a weak rationalization, you present a false dichotomy. There are at least three options: 1. Pay for the service 2. Suffer through the ads 3. Don't use…

Exactly. Poor musical piracy has been losing users to this service for too long.

Re: Spotify will now suspend or terminate accounts it finds are using ad blockers

#766

Post by scoot_718 »

cletus wrote: post #255

Good. Spotify has a pretty cheap paid option that removes all of that. To those who justify wanting the paid service for nothing by saying Spotify won't "take responsibility" or "assume liability" for their ads or those ads "might deliver malware" or are "intrusive" as a weak rationalization, you present a false dichotomy. There are at least three options: 1. Pay for the service 2. Suffer through the ads 3. Don't use…

How dare these users block malware from their machines!

Re: Spotify will now suspend or terminate accounts it finds are using ad blockers

#767

Post by NullPrefix »

manigandham wrote: post #662
NullPrefix wrote: post #454

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Access to my site that tries to inject your pc with malware isn't a human right either.

Nobody said it is. It's your choice to use the service.

It's your choice to use the malware site too

Re: Spotify will now suspend or terminate accounts it finds are using ad blockers

#768

Post by Sebb767 »

michaelmrose wrote: post #664
beering wrote: post #514

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm frankly surprised at the level of entitlement that you and others are operating under. Section 8 and 9 of the Spotify T&C is what you are looking for, btw.

Stealing is taking property with the intention of permanently depriving the rightful owner of said property. One cannot steal data by not watching ads because you can't deprive the owner of said data. Misusing a word to evoke an emotional response is intellectually dishonest and manipulative. Entitled is another overused manipulative term. I am in fact entitled to decide what runs on my computer and spotify is entitl…

> Stealing is taking property with the intention of permanently depriving the rightful owner of said property. > One cannot steal data by not watching ads because you can't deprive the owner of said data.

Well, it is. Spotify grants you the temporary license to play the copyrighted song for you listening to their ads. They _pay_ for the right to distribute that song. It's like taking something from a store and refusing to pay for it because "that store does not decide where my money goes".

> I am in fact entitled to decide what runs on my computer and spotify is entitled to decide who accesses theirs. If spotify closes accounts for not watching ads and I choose to block ads literally nobody is in the wrong. We are both exercising our respective rights.

Fully agreed.

> On net spotify will save money on bandwidth which is incredibly cheap to start with, gain a modicum of new subscribers, and shrink their supply of free users that are their primary source of paid users.

Well, as said above, they pay licensing fees and that is actually most of their business cost. I highly doubt that they loose many customers who would bring in any money with this move.

Re: Spotify will now suspend or terminate accounts it finds are using ad blockers

#769

Post by themacguffinman »

leothecool wrote: post #732
Wowfunhappy wrote: post #653

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep! Just like it's within Spotify's full legal right to ban you for using an ad-blocker.

Sure, but can they legally spy on me or search my computer to try and figure out if I am blocking ads?

They don't have to search your computer to figure that out in most adblocking implementations. If you're blocking the ad's network request but listening to the music, they can detect that server-side. If you're muting your volume while the ad is playing, they can detect that in the client with simple volume APIs.

Re: Spotify will now suspend or terminate accounts it finds are using ad blockers

#770

Post by anoncake »

fastball wrote: post #436
kgwxd wrote: post #425

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never used this phrase in my entire life but it seems absolutely perfect for the described scenario. Sorry not sorry. I personally chose not to use Spotify at all, but I'm not going to fault anyone for using it with a thrid-party blocker. Even if Spotify didn't also do advertising the right way (e.g. branded playlists (I believe paying users get those too)), no one is obligated to subject themselves to personal…

If you don't want to "subject yourself to personal harm" you can either not use the service or pay for the ad-free service. You don't have a right to use Spotify how you want. It's an online service, not a piece of personal property.

> You don't have a right to use Spotify how you want.

Of course they have that right. Spotify has no right to restrict how anyone uses their service.

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