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Adblock filter rule list modified politically in Finland

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Re: Adblock filter rule list modified politically in Finland

#81

Post by aembleton »

TorKlingberg wrote: post #56
aembleton wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just block third party JS and Cookies using uMatrix. Then use uBlock origin to remove select divs that are annoying. No need to rely upon third party lists.

I have tried that. Every other time I tried to book a flight, hotel or buy something I enter my credit card info and got a blank page or an endless spinner. Now I don't know if I have been charged and whether the purchase has gone through. I do not have time to deal with that. Also I ended up white-listing so much garbage just to do basic browsing that it defeated to whole purpose.

I've had trouble with that before, and then I just switch uMatrix off for those sites.

Re: Adblock filter rule list modified politically in Finland

#82

Post by yeahforsureman »

Jolter wrote: post #52
ahje wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fact that people are abusing tools for ad-blocking to achieve political goals is a major breach of trust. This is the main issue. For the record, political strikes happen in the other Nordic countries as well. According to a quick search on the Internet, the only Nordic citizens who are _not_ allowed to partake in a political strike are public servants in Sweden.

Correction on that: any employee in Sweden is forbidden from striking if they are currently bound by a collective bargaining agreement. This means strikes are only legally recognized as strikes in the period between the expiry of an agreement, and the signing of the next one. This is generally every three years. In other words, political strikes are effectively banned i Sweden. I'm not aware of any exception to this…

> In other words, political strikes are effectively banned i Sweden.

Not exactly true. What you're talking about is the industrial peace obligation inherent in each collective agreement. But this obligation is not applied where the strike has nothing to do with the collective agreement, i.e., where the objective of the industrial action is not covered by the collective agreement. This is precisely the case with political strikes. In this respect, the system is very similar to that in Finland. However, AFAIK, there are other limitations to purely political strikes, see the source below.

At least this source [1] states that 'purely political strikes are, in most countries, at least in theory, prohibited, exceptions being Denmark (if short and for “reasonable cause”), Finland, Ireland, Italy and Norway.'

Looking more carefully at that source you will find, however, that there is, in practice, a lot of room for strikes of varying political nature in many more EU states.

[1] https://www.asi.is/media/7581/Strike_rules_in_the_EU27.pdf

Re: Adblock filter rule list modified politically in Finland

#83

Post by leetcrew »

fjsolwmv wrote: post #72
jfk13 wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Far too much for this to ever be a solution for 99.999% of web users, who wouldn't have the slightest idea what that even means. A web that by default preys maliciously on naïve users, even if the tiny technically-savvy minority can work around it, is not an acceptable outcome.

There's no such thing as a free lunch. Users who refuse to think, work, or pay for quality, are not entitled to personally customized services. That would be an act of charity, which is affordable for the few who are far pooorer or sicker then the mainstream, but isn't sustainable for the masses.

i guess this is an unpopular position for some reason, but i'm inclined to agree. in pretty much every part of life you have to choose between effort and price. i can change my own oil or pay someone else to do it. i can cook myself dinner or pay to go out. why do people expect the internet to be different?

Re: Adblock filter rule list modified politically in Finland

#84

Post by KozmoNau7 »

fjsolwmv wrote: post #73
KozmoNau7 wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know Firefox uses Disconnect.me's filter lists, which do have a company backing them. I trust gorhill to make the right decisions when it comes to uBlock Origin and the filter lists it uses, based on his previous track record, his stance on Adblock's "acceptable ads" and his refusal to take donations from anyone. I don't necessarily trust the individual list maintainers[1], but I do trust that gorhill will quickly…

How much is gorhill paid, and by whom, and for how long can he be expected to be The One?

As fair as I know, nothing and by no one.

https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Why-don't-you-accept-...

He'll work on it for as long as he feels like it. I've made sure to thank him for his work and signal that I appreciate what he does very much indeed. All in the hope that he will continue the good work.

Will the project die at some point? Maybe. Or maybe someone will take over. Maybe another better adblocker will come along. The need is there, as long as ads/trackers exist.

Re: Adblock filter rule list modified politically in Finland

#85

Post by teknologist »

I’m eagerly waiting for the Brave AI-based blocking to be rolled out. That will hopefully be a start to the end of unwieldy and hard to maintain filter lists in general. I know there are lot of good people who put time into these things, but the blacklisting techniques these extensions use seem rather outdated in 2018.

Re: Adblock filter rule list modified politically in Finland

#86

Post by phjesusthatguy3 »

kozziollek wrote: post #64
simias wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you teach me this skill? I usually don't mind steep learning curves and taking a while to familiarize myself with a piece of technology if I believe that I'll end up benefiting from it (I type in dvorak, use a tiling window manager, I'm a shell power user etc...) but try as I might I just can't wrap my head around umatrix. I understand what it does, I just don't understand how to use it effectively. Like I just t…

Not sure if you know, but you don't need uMatrix when using uBlock Origin - it has build in the same functionality. You just need to tell uBlock that you're advanced user by checking option in settings. What TekMol is using sounds like Hard Mode. Personally, I chose Medium Mode (blocking only 3rd-party scripts) as there isn't much difference between them. [1] [1]: https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Blocking-mode

Thank you for posting that, I had no idea it existed. I've been running both but this looks like something I could get used to.

Re: Adblock filter rule list modified politically in Finland

#87

Post by bluGill »

beaconstudios wrote: post #80
TorKlingberg wrote: post #26

The fundamental problem is that these filter lists are maintained by random volunteers, who everyone just assumes are trustworthy. The browser makers avoid the issues by having ad-blockers be third-party extensions. The extension makers don't make the filter lists either, they just import from EasyList and similar. It's surprising there arent't more cases of corruption and broken trust. I wish I could get ad-blocking…

why does ad blocking need to be a business? It seems like an ideal option for a community open source project.

I maintain an open source project. It isn't my day job though. Sometimes I accept pull requests right away, sometimes it takes me months to get to them. One advantage commercial projects CAN have is someone paid to do daily work on it. (Can is key, sometimes that person exists, sometimes that person doesn't get time)

Re: Adblock filter rule list modified politically in Finland

#88

Post by jahaja »

Jolter wrote: post #52
ahje wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fact that people are abusing tools for ad-blocking to achieve political goals is a major breach of trust. This is the main issue. For the record, political strikes happen in the other Nordic countries as well. According to a quick search on the Internet, the only Nordic citizens who are _not_ allowed to partake in a political strike are public servants in Sweden.

Correction on that: any employee in Sweden is forbidden from striking if they are currently bound by a collective bargaining agreement. This means strikes are only legally recognized as strikes in the period between the expiry of an agreement, and the signing of the next one. This is generally every three years. In other words, political strikes are effectively banned i Sweden. I'm not aware of any exception to this…

You're not bound by the CBA if you're in another union that has no CBA with the company. Sadly, there are ongoing attempts to stop this.

Re: Adblock filter rule list modified politically in Finland

#89

Post by noance »

sharpneli wrote: post #5

This is not precisely about the filter list but the whole shenanigans that led to it. Persons from other countries might be interested in this little quirk of Finland. Especially as it relates to workers rights in general. In Finland, unique among Nordic countries, political strikes are allowed. What does this mean? Let's say you're not happy about a decision made by Trump you can go to a strike. Sure the company doe…

Enough with the hyperbole. The protest was directed at a proposed law that makes it easier to arbitrarily fire people rather than a political party line, and had a clearly defined length of two days. As far as I know there has never been a strike called on the basis of some individual's politically incorrect statements or political views.

Re: Adblock filter rule list modified politically in Finland

#90

Post by stochastic_monk »

afarrell wrote: post #47
VMG wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really wish the internet would be client-side filtered by default, instead of centrally moderated. We'll end up with filter bubbles either way.

The advantage to your proposal is that I can unfilter when I actually have the focus to meaningfully engage with public policy questions, rather than when I first wake up and am too tired to question my biases.

I learn things of value when reading materials from opposing points of view, even if the opinion or spin is extreme. I think it’s a valuable and important exercise, but, as you say, probably best when you have your wits about you.

As needed filtering is certainly best.

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