I'll probably still use an ad blocker and those sites can just lock me out.
Bonus points if a search engine like Kagi automatically filters out sites for me that block ad-blockers.
Google engineers want to make ad-blocking (near) impossible
441–450 of 486 posts
Re: Google engineers want to make ad-blocking (near) impossible
#442Earlier quoted context omitted.
They are the ones doing the work. They certainly have a choice not to.
But you do realise that other engineers may do it, right? Ultimately the managers or executives are the ones behind it.
No, ultimately the managers and executives can do nothing without the engineers. At the end of the day some engineer has to build the thing, and no one is holding a gun to their head to do so. They are willingly trading their time for money to do work that makes the world a worse place for us and a better place for Google.
Re: Google engineers want to make ad-blocking (near) impossible
#443Do you know what puzzles me most? How can software engineers work on something like this? Don't those paid engineers or involved ones have the balls or dignity to walk away? I'm just wondering how they would feel about this (if they feel anything at all). I mean, if I'd be in such a position and asked to push something like this I'd have walked away on the spot, no matter what you offer me. No one at Google is standi…
Tell me you don't have a mortgage and kids without telling me
As the one employed member of my household (spouse is retired) I paid off a Silicon Valley mortgage in under 15 years working for a non-profit software outfit with no stock options or any of that, just a decent salary for a solid company for a good stretch of time. That you think it can only be done with a small handful of specific employers is silly.
Re: Google engineers want to make ad-blocking (near) impossible
#444Earlier quoted context omitted.
Standing up for your principles is never easy when it counts the most. Usually it's going to cost something. Sometimes that's a fat salary and a cushy job.
And is everyone, or should everyone, be willing to risk that fat salary, cushy job, benefits for their principles if it means risking the quality of life for their family? Do any of them support a sick kid, spouse, parent? Any of them send money home? All I'm saying is that some of them might not be in a situation in which they could, on a whim, risk getting fired. And we shouldn't blame them because the fix for that…
> And is everyone, or should everyone, be willing to risk that fat salary, cushy job, benefits for their principles if it means risking the quality of life for their family?
Google engineers are not special. Everyone has a situation, and family, and bills. Everyone has a parent who will die one day. Everyone hits hard times. Everyone faces tests of character at inopportune times. Very few of those people are making $300k a year tho, and nonetheless making the rightethical choices every day. Why can't Google engineers?
That's why I said standing up for your principles is difficult. If it were easy, everyone would do it.
Re: Google engineers want to make ad-blocking (near) impossible
#445Earlier quoted context omitted.
But my point is that you do have plenty options in the industry! For sure if you're in charge of something like this you can have a pretty decent job elsewhere. You sound as if those people have nowhere else to continue their careers... Am I wrong?
Yeah, you're kind of a little wrong. Sure, there are options. They don't pay like FAANG, like order of magnitude difference.
It is not an order of magnitude. I work at a software non-profit and am paid reasonably compared to my FAANG friends. Sure, they make more, but not an order of magnitude more, not even double, and I can sleep at night knowing I'm trying to make the world better for humans rather than trying to enrich a few mega-corporations.
Re: Google engineers want to make ad-blocking (near) impossible
#446Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree, I use Firefox everywhere. But we must not forget the following: In 2011 Mozilla income was 85% derrived from Google, through the primary search engine deal. Around a billion was paid over three years as part of this deal at some point. Appearantly there was bidding by Microsoft for making Bing the default, which pushed up the pricing. So every time Mozilla speaks out against Google, it is a bit awkward, sinc…
Yeah, I mentioned this in another comment: it's really a shame that Mozilla spends the majority of that money (often poorly IMO), instead of putting it into an endowment fund or something similar that would leave them in a much better position for the long run.
It actually takes a lot of people to build and maintain a modern competitive browser. Not paying those people and instead investing the revenue would end the project in short order. Mozilla is already outgunned on staff by the other major browser makers and you want us to cut staff to save more? That's not realistic, IMO.
Re: Google engineers want to make ad-blocking (near) impossible
#447Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree, I use Firefox everywhere. But we must not forget the following: In 2011 Mozilla income was 85% derrived from Google, through the primary search engine deal. Around a billion was paid over three years as part of this deal at some point. Appearantly there was bidding by Microsoft for making Bing the default, which pushed up the pricing. So every time Mozilla speaks out against Google, it is a bit awkward, sinc…
Yet the development of the browser is seeing a smaller fraction of that income than most people believe.
Not really. Firefox is a large majority of Mozilla and Mozilla's spending. Feel free to read over our financial statements to confirm this.
Re: Google engineers want to make ad-blocking (near) impossible
#448Earlier quoted context omitted.
And if ad-blockers are considered illegitimate software? This would be entirely in line with financial incentives of the proposed attesters and even logically defensible (oh well, we haven’t vetted uBlock, so you can’t browse with that installed).
And if I want to use links on z80? And aside from niche platforms, do you want the 3 big companies to decide what you're allowed to see on the internet?
I think you may have misunderstood my comment, which was disagreeing with the parent comment.
I do not want those companies (or anyone, really) to be able to decide what is or is not an allowed hardware/software setup to access anything.
Re: Google engineers want to make ad-blocking (near) impossible
#449Earlier quoted context omitted.
At a much lower price, because search deals are paid based on number of searches done (so indirectly, the number of active users), and because Google has 90%-ish market share, it means a 90% drop in revenue. Also, Bing has on average twice higher RPMs, so, a 50% of drop in income after rev-share. So, you remove 90% of the revenue, and you divide by 2 what is remaining.
Technically it might even be healthy for Mozilla to loose 90% of the budget as they are spending that on bs projects that has nothing to do with Firefox. Maybe it would force them to spend the money on the Firefox team, and all the money hungry top management would go somewhere else where they can waste money.
Mozilla spends a very large majority of its revenue directly on Firefox. Cut Mozilla's budget by 90% and you cut Firefox's budget by nearly 90%.
Re: Google engineers want to make ad-blocking (near) impossible
#450Earlier quoted context omitted.
I can't recall where I read it but the biggest danger with having a fat paycheck is that your lifestyle changes drastically. More money? Well, now you can do/afford more expensive things, you can take more luxuries, have a bigger place, a fancier car, and so on. And the problem comes when you have to cut back all that, you need a job that can support that lifestyle. I believe the best thing you can do if you have a f…
It is never about how much one makes it is always a matter of how much one spends.
That is... a gross simplification. There is a cost of living. If you include people giving you stuff for free in the "how much one makes" category, then you need shelter, food, healthcare, etc. There are plenty of people who struggle to make enough to pay for these necessities. We call this "poverty", and it absolutely is a matter of "how much one makes".