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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

#161

Post by mattbessey »

dessant wrote: post #13

They allow advertisers to run JS on your device, and ads are a trendy way to deliver malware. People are using ad blockers not just to hide annoyances and to improve performance, but to protect themselves from bad actors. https://spotifyforbrands.com/en-US/ad-experiences/ > JavaScript or iFrame Tags: All third-party tags and tracking URLs need to be in https format. I was on the fence about this because there is a le…

I can just about understand this attitude with services that do not have an ad-free subscription option, but Spotify does! How do you reconcile that you deserve to be able to use Spotify both without paying them money and without them monetising you via ads?

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

#162

Post by phailhaus »

danijelb wrote: post #60
sidyapa wrote: post #7

This is a good move. Even though ads are annoying and frustrating at most times it is not anybody's birth-right to use a product/service for free and block their sources of revenue. If they have a pay-to-remove-ads option, use it.

Should TV networks try to block you if you don't look at the TV while ads are running? Or if you turn it off/switch channel/mute it? Same goes for newspapers and magazines - do you have a right to skip pages filled with ads and not look at them?

...all the examples you gave are services you pay for. Spotify is preventing users from blocking ads on their free tier.

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

#164

Post by Legogris »

bicubic wrote: post #58
dessant wrote: post #13

They allow advertisers to run JS on your device, and ads are a trendy way to deliver malware. People are using ad blockers not just to hide annoyances and to improve performance, but to protect themselves from bad actors. https://spotifyforbrands.com/en-US/ad-experiences/ > JavaScript or iFrame Tags: All third-party tags and tracking URLs need to be in https format. I was on the fence about this because there is a le…

Between the dwindling Netflix catalog and increasingly hostile subscription service experience on Spotify, I have found myself flying the black flag again. I still have subscriptions to both, but I will be cancelling them this year. I don't want their shitty analytics payloads, I don't want their shitty anti-adblocker tech. I don't want their shitty tactics of deleting random songs off my playlists. I just want the c…

I'm curious; what's the hostile subscription service experience you've encountered with Spotify?

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

#167

Post by martimarkov »

krelian wrote: post #128
martimarkov wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not just about justification of freeloading. It's about a company being able to push arbitrary stuff to your device masked as adverts. Yeah fine I listen to music for free on your service. Does that mean that everyone should be able to spy on me? Nobody is complaining about voice or image or video-based ads. But running JS and iframes is just arrogant. Also I'm very pissed off with people who say freeloading. It…

You don't have to use the service you know. There are alternatives, Spotify doesn't have a monopoly on music.

I don't use Spotify personally. I have Apple Music, my problem is more with the fact they are now forcing you to run arbitrary 3rd party code to have access to their catalog. Just keep the ads as images and videos and sound and I'll be pretty happy.

I have this problem with websites, apps, social networks, etc. as well. I don't want to be tracked, retargeted and so on. Not because I think ads will influence me or anything but its about my trust in those companies and how they protect my data. When my data gets leaked because they are inadequate at security I don't get money back. I get a message saying "We take your privacy seriously"... And that data can then be used in various other ways to harm me.

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

#168

Post by MorrisofOrange »

sigmar wrote: post #50
MorrisofOrange wrote: post #25

But can they block me muting the ads?

I use an app to mute my android device's volume when "advertisement" appears in the "now playing" notification. For the past 4-6 weeks I've noticed Spotify will sometimes 'fail' to accurately update the "now playing" notification. I brushed it off as a bug, but this ToS makes me wonder if they are collecting device volume (which they can definitely do in android) and perhaps testing to see if I'm using the notificati…

Pandora will pause the music if it detects you muted your phone (it tells you this, not a hypothesis) so I always mute it and up the volume one bar. This way I still cant hear it but it is not technically muted.

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

#169

Post by criddell »

dessant wrote: post #13

They allow advertisers to run JS on your device, and ads are a trendy way to deliver malware. People are using ad blockers not just to hide annoyances and to improve performance, but to protect themselves from bad actors. https://spotifyforbrands.com/en-US/ad-experiences/ > JavaScript or iFrame Tags: All third-party tags and tracking URLs need to be in https format. I was on the fence about this because there is a le…

The simple solution is that Spotify accept liability for any malware delivered via their ad system.

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

#170

Post by h4waii »

redsky17 wrote: post #49
bad_user wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then why don’t you pay for a subscription? If you keep listening to Spotify, surely it brings you value. I know I’m getting value from it. I listen to music all day at work and personally I don’t have many services that I use so often.

So the reason for that has more to do with my corporate firewall than anything. I do pay for subscription services that I enjoy more than Spotify (currently, Google Play Music and Tidal). However, I cannot have a phone at work, so I can't log into GPM (2FA requires the phone), and Tidal is blocked for other reasons. So that basically just leaves Spotify. I don't want to pay for a third subscription service that I onl…

Google's 2FA doesn't require a phone. Use a USB token, use a secondary email, or use a single recovery code and leave the account logged in in a separate browser used only for GPM.
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