Ars Technica: Why ad blocking is devastating to the sites you love
http://bit.ly/crtGSB (ars technica)I agree with their analysis. You may recall my take on this issue two
and half years ago or so:
"Blocking Web Ads -- And Paying the Piper":
http://bit.ly/5meCbq (Lauren's Blog)--Lauren--
NNSquad Moderator
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What about privacy issues? How
many website-placed ads indirectly track your browsing history by indirectly tracking which ads you view (as they are designed to be unique to the page in which they are placed, so the proper viewing gets paid)? Ad conglomerates and central ad serving constitutes a major threat to the privacy of a web user than advertising in any other medium. I don't block ads because I think they're disgusting, virulent, useless, or obtrusive; I block them because they watch everything I do. Ads have finally, with the Internet, reached that Orwellian state
wherein the monitor watches you.
The stakes and dollar investments for it have never been higher, and the resulting imbalance is starving media of other forms of desperately needed resources. The virtue of being anonymous in all of these previous forms is all but absent from the Internet. Few seem to stress that as a reason for avoiding advertisement. The argument for blocking advertisements has been reduced to selfish entitlement, rather than self-protection. Regardless, I support and regularly use ad-blocking applications to this end.
The expectation of business to generate revenue from drive-by assaults to user privacy and right to anonymity on the Internet must end. If you want revenue, sell a product that I find compelling enough to purchase. Advertise yourself. If I came to you, then I feel you have a right to know who I am and whether or not I may receive various levels of access or offerings
based on the business relationship I have with you. This is why I don't block browser-cookies (or, for a large part _javascript_).
Ars makes the argument that their browsing populace is by-and-large like restaurant patrons who regularly skip out on the bill. I argue instead that Ars' website is like a street-facing buffet with no register and/or cashier. They instead leave the "billing" to various, trolling street thugs who use Ars like bait. Now, because people have started defending themselves, the thugs are putting the squeeze on Ars' take. I don't feel badly for Ars. They setup a business model which profits others long before them, and fail to see the error of their ways. There is no such thing as a free lunch... so stop handing it out for free, and definitely stop complaining when doing so doesn't earn you revenue.
-Dave Berry