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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?

#141

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…

Maybe watching ads would be a fair exchange if there was an option to pay, often (mostly), there isn’t. Additionally to some (most), ads aren’t the problem, its tracking, creation of shadow profiles etc Never used photopea, hope it works out for you, but I wish website creators stopped thinking that invasion of my privacy is a currency

> if there was an option to pay...

It doesn't work very well, unfortunately. Those willing to pay usually are the most interesting part of the audience for ad providers, so it's difficult to compensate that loss by a reasonably priced 'ad-free' option. You probably would be surprised if you knew how much your attention may cost. Targeted ads created a market where everyone pays proportionally to their spendings. I'm not saying it's a good situation, but it looks like that's a local optimum rather hard to leave.

What bothers me is that huge companies are more resilient to tracking and ads restrictions, so that fight may further speed up centralisation of the internet. I would personally prefer the chaotic old-school world wide web with ugly flashing banners instead.

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

#142
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you sign up for a store loyalty card, there's usually a form you fill out and sign. That's your "cookie consent".

I have never given correct information for those. I always sign up with the name of a president and the address of the White House. I’ve been using a phone number from 15 years ago for those.

[deleted]

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

#143

I live in the area of Grenoble, a french city leaded by ecologists than banned ads several years ago (since 2014 if I'm correct). This is a pleasure, or, more precisely, I feel overwhelmed when I exit my city and am surrounded by so many ads! https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.france24.com/en/20141124-fr...

The state of Hawaii also bans most ads and billboards (they are considered to take away from the natural beauty, which, of course, is a big tourism draw). I find it odd that there is even much debate about it and that most places do not have laws like this:

https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/vol10_ch0436-0474/...

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

#144
post #70
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand the hate toward cookie banners. It's like if the citizens of a surveillance state complained if civilian-dressed informants had to carry a big ugly sign. Sure, the sign is ugly and everywhere; but maybe the actual problem is that there are so many informants that you have to see so many signs, rather than their signs being ugly. Shoot the actual problem (i.e. the dark patterns and malicious complia…

Both are a problem in their own right. Tracking visitors to make up for your lackluster business model is abusive, but cookie banners as usually implemented are but one way to comply with regulations aimed at curtailing this. And in my book, it's a form of malicious compliance, making it equally part of the problem.

Annoying consent flows aren't compliant, at least not with the GDPR. A compliant consent flow should make it as easy to accept as it is to decline, so pre-ticked checkboxes or hiding/burying the decline option doesn't comply.

Incompetent regulators that are asleep at the wheel and still haven't done anything to punish this (GDPR went into effect in 2018) are definitely a problem though.

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

#145
post #9

I cycle to work on an ebike. About 25 km each way. One of the major issues is the lack of proper infrastructure and awful attitude by drivers, in particular service drivers. Advertisement company vans are a prime example. There are rolling advertisement posters in most bus stop shelters. These drivers will park up on the footpath blocking pedestrians and those using the bus to update the advertisements, often in the…

> We forget that cities are for people. We let cars dominate the majority of the available space.

In my city it's especially bad. Cars on the road, cars on the road side, cars on sidewalks, cars on pedestrian crossings, cars chasing you while crossing the road on the designated crossing. And as you say, if you object they become abusive. It's a large Eastern European city that is living the American dream of going everywhere in a car.

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

#146
post #42
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The sites wouldn't need to get your consent for justifiable usage only. They actively decide they want more than that, they want to sell your data. So it's on them, the law itself is fine.

Given that the sites wouldn't exist at all if it wasn't for the ad networks they use to feed their editors, it seems justifiable to me!

I have zero problems with ad-supported shit going out of business and making space for good, paid content. Imagine a world where content has to be so good as to convince people to take out their wallet. No more clickbait, "this video is sponsored by ShitVPN", chumboxes, etc.

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

#147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's something different about streets and web. I'm not sure but on my laptop i kinda expect things to go to the point, fast. A street is not a mean to an end. So a bus stop with some ad.. doesn't really changes everything. Consider web ads more like annoying bus boys trying to get you to order something in their restaurant by stepping in front of you and mirroring every move.

It changes a lot if you have ADHD. IMHO, it's an accessibility problem for people like me.

I don't know if I would call it an accessibility problem for me personally, but yeah as someone who has trouble staying focused, a moving screen or flashy ad is almost impossible not to look at, and extremely intrusive. Using the web without an ad blocker is an absolute nightmare for me.

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

#148
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.

Playing devil's advocate given my beliefs on ads, but value does not imply property rights.

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

#149
post #12

I wonder why society decided that advertising was so important, it was willing to let it completely dominate (and in my opinion destroy) our public spaces. People who need something will find it just fine without billboards. And people buying things they don't need is not exactly in the interest of society. So why should society pay for it? I've been working on a policy paper idea for my home country - Slovenia. Comp…

>I wonder why society decided that advertising was so important, it was willing to let it completely dominate (and in my opinion destroy) our public spaces. Because advertising is a form of speech, and society has decided that speech is important?

All freedoms are limited by the freedoms of others. You may speak what you wish, but when and how you speak it is limited.

You can not scream about it in the middle of the night, since doing so bothers your neighbors.

Letting anyone and everyone do what ever they want would lead to anarchy. So no society, USA included, does this.

But some actors in societies have convinced the western population, especially Americans, into the fantasy of "freedom without limitation", which, just so happens to only apply to the rich and powerful, while everyone else has to contend with limitations on their freedoms.

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

#150
I wrote that before but happy to repeat:

I do sometimes antiadvertisement. I see anoying ads? I will write those companies. Works best when cc as many mail addresses you can find from them.

I also don't think most advertising is fair anyway. Most companies can't afford it, you actually don't see a lot of different ads as well.

It's always magnum ice cream, cigarettes, some weird hipster new thing no one needs.

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