Re: [directory-discuss] Ad-free freedom betrayed

[Ian Kelling]

On Thu, Nov 17, 2016, at 10:46 PM, David Hedlund wrote:
> Should we also add "Ad-free freedom betrayed" - Adblock Plus white lists 
> sponsored ads.


First, I don't think a tag for adblockers which allow ads is broad
enough to justify a tag. Second, I don't see what adblock plus does as
clearly wrong. Yes, it is controversial, but I will defend them. They
have been open about what they are doing and why they are doing it, with
an argument that it is in the users interest. First, not blocking some
ads is already an accepted practice: people generally recommend ublock
origin instead, and it doesn't block google search ads, and both it and
adblock plus have prominent buttons to unblock ads from a site. Adblock
plus does not call it sponsored ads, they say something like "well it
costs us money to review and figure out which ads are worthy of
unblocking, because they aren't obnoxious etc, so we charge a fee for
that. And we do this partly because the fact is that a large portion of
the web runs on ad revenue and there is no immediate functional
alternative."