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You block ads in your browser, why not in your city?

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Re: You block ads in your browser, why not in your city?

#111
post #103

Ads should simply be illegal anywhere, anywhen. Perhaps if we did that for, say, 80 years, then after the last advertiser has dropped dead of advanced age, we could cautiously re-enable the legality of purely informational, manipulation-free adverts.

Who's going to pay for your Google search, maps, and Gmail if there are no ads?

The same person who pays for my movie tickets or refills my tank.

Re: You block ads in your browser, why not in your city?

#112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you in European Union? I imagine the consent banner may skipped when not in European Union.

I’m in the UK. So not anymore. But we still apply GDPR rules as far as I’m aware

GDPR still applies in the UK via their "equivalent" UK GDPR, as does the PECR (which is their implementation of the ePrivacy Directive, which covers cookies).

UK cookie law is pretty strict, and also pretty clear to read - https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-pecr/guidance-...

The issue is nobody bothers to follow it, and enforcement isn't likely enough, or crippling enough, to drive compliance.

Re: You block ads in your browser, why not in your city?

#113
I am hoping for a membership service (think Clear vs TSA PRE) that allows you to avoid ads on all (digital) platforms. YouTube and Twitter are becoming so terrible with advertisements these days. I don't want to complain about it though - I want to just pay some $$$ to not see them anymore.

We went all-in on this advertising based economy and no one really wants it but the advertisers.

Re: You block ads in your browser, why not in your city?

#115

I own a website www.Photopea.com, visited by 3 million people a month. Once in a while, I enable adblock detector, and do not allow usrers with adblocks use the service. I wish everyone was doing that. When you see someone willing to give you a car (or anything else), but they want money in exchange (i.e. sell it to you), you understand, that it is wrong to take the car without giving them money (i.e. stealing). But…

> When you see someone willing to give you a car (or anything else), but they want money in exchange (i.e. sell it to you), you understand, that it is wrong to take the car without giving them money (i.e. stealing).

Someone selling goods has to abide by some laws - typically, lies/false advertising is prohibited, they might have to provide a warranty, and most contracts can be cancelled within 14 days by returning the goods. This means that the car's specifications will be made available to me, the terms of the deal throughly detailed in a legal document I'd have to sign, and I might get to test drive the car before committing.

Ads in contrast don't have any of this. In your example of articles/poems/songs/funny videos, I don't get to check out the content beforehand, I have no recourse if it turns out to be defective/fraudulent/etc (such as clickbait, or a video with 2 mins actual content and 8 mins filler to get to the 10 min threshold for a second ad) after I "pay" by viewing the ad (and parting with my personal data) and I don't have any recourse either if the advertised product turns out to be a scam or malware.

Re: You block ads in your browser, why not in your city?

#116
Reminds me of this Banksy quote:

    People are taking the piss out of you everyday. They butt into your life, take a cheap shot at you and then disappear. They leer at you from tall buildings and make you feel small. They make flippant comments from buses that imply you’re not sexy enough and that all the fun is happening somewhere else. They are on TV making your girlfriend feel inadequate. They have access to the most sophisticated technology the world has ever seen and they bully you with it. They are The Advertisers and they are laughing at you.

    You, however, are forbidden to touch them. Trademarks, intellectual property rights and copyright law mean advertisers can say what they like wherever they like with total impunity.

    Fuck that. Any advert in a public space that gives you no choice whether you see it or not is yours. It’s yours to take, re-arrange and re-use. You can do whatever you like with it. Asking for permission is like asking to keep a rock someone just threw at your head.

    You owe the companies nothing. Less than nothing, you especially don’t owe them any courtesy. They owe you. They have re-arranged the world to put themselves in front of you. They never asked for your permission, don’t even start asking for theirs.

    – Banksy

Re: You block ads in your browser, why not in your city?

#117
post #88

Advertising as it is done presently has at least three faults, which is just as much a fault with the ethics of society for allowing this to go on: - adverts seeks to hijack your attention away from whatever you were doing, which is a mental burden resulting diminished performance (in the case of a work environment), is downright dangerous in the case of traffic environments and lessens the enjoyment in the case of l…

If my attention has value, then hijacking it is a form of theft.

Yeah dude. That is your life being stolen in a very real way. Imagine if you had your life flash by your eyes in an NDE and 5% was advertisements.

Re: You block ads in your browser, why not in your city?

#118
post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These pumps with “Gas Station TV” are so annoying that I go out of my way to get my gas at a different station. I’ve wondered if it actively drives other customers away too or if I’m just very sensitive to it.

I also avoid area gas stations with gas station tv. So theres at least two of us.

Three.

Re: You block ads in your browser, why not in your city?

#119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These pumps with “Gas Station TV” are so annoying that I go out of my way to get my gas at a different station. I’ve wondered if it actively drives other customers away too or if I’m just very sensitive to it.

I've found you can often mute those screens if you press one of the buttons beside the screen. Apparently it's different depending on the machine, so just mash them all I guess.

I avoid them too, and I’ve never found one where pressing any buttons mutes it.
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