YouTube's Anti-Adblock and uBlock Origin • Hacker News Board

Re: YouTube's Anti-Adblock and uBlock Origin

#631

Post by adhesive_wombat » Mon, Oct 30, 2023, 10:04 AM UTC

dageshi wrote: post #605

adhesive_wombat wrote: post #580

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> still contains tons of illegal stuff I came across whole episodes of British TV on there this very week that were uploaded 12 years ago. I know they have a strict "no humans involved, ever" system going, but the programme name was in the title and the video was one of those ones inset into a fake background and the audio was original. I find it amazing that no one (or rather nothing) with a ban button has noticed t…

Is it illegal though? Who owns it? General principle of the internet seems to be people can host what they like till someone who has legal ownership of it tells them to take it down at that point they're expected to take it down and keep it off their service unless added by the owner. That's what google is sticking to because frankly any other method would be a nightmare. The old tv episodes might have muddy/unclear…

The TV show was first aired in 2009, and they're still on streaming services so it's hardly an orphan work. Not that I'm agitating for more or stricter enforcement, far from it, but it seems strangely lackadaisical compared to the "walk past a shop playing music and cop a copyright strike" that also happens on the very same platform.

Then again I guess YouTube makes money from ads on these videos being up, so that does explain the sphinx-like impassivity.

Re: YouTube's Anti-Adblock and uBlock Origin

#632

Post by Aerbil313 » Mon, Oct 30, 2023, 10:06 AM UTC

seydor wrote: post #571

eqvinox wrote: post #427

This is of course bringing up the discussion on the "morality" of Adblocking. I'd like to point out something that I don't think is getting enough attention. There was a point in the past where video platforms were competing, and by no means was it clear that YouTube would end up dominating this area to the point of being close to a monopoly. When YouTube won that race, they won it with a given set of parameters, inc…

And the platforms that were free and distributed, i.e. torrents became illegal. Youtube started with a ton of illegal stuff (and still contains tons of illegal stuff, but mostly in languages/regions that "don't matter"). Internet speeds are maturing, and maybe it is time to try again a self-hosted or distributed model. The hard part is to put ads in it, because ad-supported is traditionally the best medium for videos…

Wait a minute…

What about a distributed model, but with a distributed ad network which pays people and/or the project?

Would it be enough to cover internet service provider costs of average folks?

Re: YouTube's Anti-Adblock and uBlock Origin

#633

Post by Aerbil313 » Mon, Oct 30, 2023, 10:17 AM UTC

Lots of talk.

I just wish people with free time could gather together and build a completely distributed Google (YouTube, Search etc.) * On top of Freenet 2023 * As performant as Google * Funding the project by ads. Yes, you need it.

Re: YouTube's Anti-Adblock and uBlock Origin

#634

Post by rakkhi » Mon, Oct 30, 2023, 10:21 AM UTC

eqvinox wrote: post #427

This is of course bringing up the discussion on the "morality" of Adblocking. I'd like to point out something that I don't think is getting enough attention. There was a point in the past where video platforms were competing, and by no means was it clear that YouTube would end up dominating this area to the point of being close to a monopoly. When YouTube won that race, they won it with a given set of parameters, inc…

A few Argentinian peso via VPN for Youtube premium seems fine.

Re: YouTube's Anti-Adblock and uBlock Origin

#635

Post by cykros » Mon, Oct 30, 2023, 10:28 AM UTC

Not sure if it's AdNauseam or BypassPaywalls (which does prevent you from seeing your logged in algorithmic recommendations), but I'm not getting ads or bothered anymore. I was, using Brave, with or without uBlock Origin turned on.

Hopefully this brings more creators over to Rumble, Bitchute, and/or Odysee though -- it's about time YouTube gets ditched en masse, and not just for the fringe content.

Re: YouTube's Anti-Adblock and uBlock Origin

#636

Post by xorcist » Mon, Oct 30, 2023, 10:32 AM UTC

caconym_ wrote: post #349

least wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It also feels awful to be called a beggar and a panhandler just because you're trying to find a balance and build a sustainable project by having a donation popup (that can be disabled) in your software. Interrupting someone's browsing experience to ask for donations is both providing a poor user experience and is in poor taste. I think it's fine to solicit donations in the browserAction popup, the settings page or…

> doing so elsewhere would deservedly be criticized. I suggest that these people express their criticism by not using the software in question. I doubt the typical purveyor of free-as-in-* software who's stuck between a rock and a hard place re: monetization particularly cares what somebody who doesn't understand the personal specifics of their dilemma thinks about their chosen solution to it.

I totally agree with this sentiment. Could I also bill the creator for my time invested in learning the software and adjusting my workflows for it, all the hours invested before the hidden anti-features showed the true intention of the software? Otherwise this whole argument could legitimize spyware. I could not reasonably decide to stop using the software before I was informed of the anti-features, regardless of how their invasiveness.

Re: YouTube's Anti-Adblock and uBlock Origin

#637

Post by cykros » Mon, Oct 30, 2023, 10:34 AM UTC

cykros wrote: post #635

Not sure if it's AdNauseam or BypassPaywalls (which does prevent you from seeing your logged in algorithmic recommendations), but I'm not getting ads or bothered anymore. I was, using Brave, with or without uBlock Origin turned on. Hopefully this brings more creators over to Rumble, Bitchute, and/or Odysee though -- it's about time YouTube gets ditched en masse, and not just for the fringe content.

Curious if hosts file based blocking, or a PiHole, would trigger their block as well.

Re: YouTube's Anti-Adblock and uBlock Origin

#638

Post by sumedh » Mon, Oct 30, 2023, 10:39 AM UTC

ketzo wrote: post #8

Why, from first principles, should YouTube allow this? Why shouldn’t they go thermonuclear? I understand ads are annoying - I block as many as I can! - but I’ve never seen someone put together a coherent defense of the practice.

> Why shouldn’t they go thermonuclear?

Why shouldnt users go thermonuclear if Google tracks you everywhere. Why was Google allowed to buy Double Click and become a giant in ad space?

Re: YouTube's Anti-Adblock and uBlock Origin

#639

Post by jedrek » Mon, Oct 30, 2023, 10:43 AM UTC

eqvinox wrote: post #427

This is of course bringing up the discussion on the "morality" of Adblocking. I'd like to point out something that I don't think is getting enough attention. There was a point in the past where video platforms were competing, and by no means was it clear that YouTube would end up dominating this area to the point of being close to a monopoly. When YouTube won that race, they won it with a given set of parameters, inc…

Do realize that viewers are not YouTube's only "customer". They spend a lot of time and energy courting video creators as well, and their monetization program is one of the few that allows even mid-sized creators to record videos for a living.

Re: YouTube's Anti-Adblock and uBlock Origin

#640

Post by kzrdude » Mon, Oct 30, 2023, 10:53 AM UTC

eqvinox wrote: post #461

zarzavat wrote: post #453

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My perspective: Google is not an agent directed by morality when they interact with me, therefore I don’t allocate any morality when interacting with them. It’s a power relationship not a moral relationship. I do feel bad for the creators, but I would rather donate to their Patreons than buy YT premium.

> I do feel bad for the creators, but I would rather donate to their Patreons than buy YT premium. I ended up subscribing to both Nebula and Dropout.tv, especially after noticing that a good portion of my favourite YT channels are in fact on Nebula. Sadly, this is primarly larger ones, and I do feel bad about smaller creators being kinda stuck on YT… especially when it's the odd one-time well-made video that really d…

I signed up for nebula too, but it's clear that nebula is not a competitive platform. Nebula does the basics, it has channels and it shows videos, that part is great.

Youtube is great because of the wide availability of videos, recommendations and (maybe not great because of this) the comments.

I know the comments are not that well liked, but it means the videos are not in a vacuum. They are in a social context. And comments are pretty good, maybe because negative ones are heavily suppressed, that's at least what it looks like.

Nebula feels empty because of those missing parts. It doesn't draw you in to new channels. I don't like half the recommendations youtube gives, but some of them I do.