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During an outbreak of common sense in a Hamburg, Germany, court it was ruled that.. no, advertisers don't get their own way every time.
Zeit Online GmbH and Handelsblatt GmbH as representatives of the advertising world filed suit against Eyeo GmbH (the owners of AdBlock Plus) claiming that the latter should not be allowed to distribute software (a browser plugin that blocks ads) that disrupts their income stream.
The court did not look favourably on the advertisers' case.
From an article in The Register :
Ben Williams, a director of Eyeo, wrote in a blog: "The Hamburg court decision is an important one, because it sets a precedent that may help us avoid additional lawsuits and expenses defending what we feel is an obvious consumer right: giving people the ability to control their own screens by letting them block annoying ads and protect their privacy."
This has ramifications for another simmering case in neighboring France.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Wednesday April 22 2015, @09:57PM
I would not care if there were ads on the pages I visit if that is all they were. I do not believe anyone really ever did. Internet advertisers seem to feel that not only are they entitled to show us their ads, but also that they are entitled to track us all over the internet.
You've hit the nail on the head.
Although i disagree that nobody cared about ads. Ads that are abusive in size, with noise or video, or take up more space than the content are objectionable even without tracking.
But no specific advertiser has anything to gain by tracking me all over the net. Why would Ford or GM care if I clicked a Bob's Burgers ad? Why should they know this? Kohls or Target haven't got the smarts to track me, they can barely keep thieves out of their own cash registers.
The problem is that large ad selling companies got in the mix. They are the ones doing the tracking these days.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Thursday April 23 2015, @01:59PM
In fact, I would even extend this to: I wouldn't care at all about ads, except that the advertisers are scammers and spammers, every single one of them. Pop-up ads, then pop-under ads, flash ads, ads that put a panel over the content. Pages with one paragraph per page to increase ad hits. Unskippable video ads, web bugs, trackers, personal information sales, slashvertisements, paid "review" sites.
It leaks into the real world as well. People don't pay enough attention billboards around here, so they now have these obnoxiously bright video ads. Thanks, I wasnt using my night vision while driving, anyhow.
Here is one [triblive.com] where the advertisers are suing a couple that complained about an overly bright billboard because the mean couple dared speak out against them.
Do I have any shame for using adblock at every single opportunity? Hell no. They are all liars and scammers. All of them.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh