SoylentNews

EU Carriers Plan to Block Adverts, Demand Money from Google

posted by n1 on Sunday May 17 2015, @04:52PM   
from the corporate-warfare dept.

AnonTechie writes:

Multiple mobile operators in Europe plan to block advertising on their networks, with one of them planning to target Google's ad network to force the company to give up a cut of its ad revenue, according to a report yesterday in the Financial Times.

"An executive at a European carrier confirmed that it and several of its peers are planning to start blocking adverts this year," the newspaper reported. "The executive said that the carrier will initially launch an advertising-free service for customers on an opt-in basis. But it is also considering a more radical idea that it calls 'the bomb', which would apply across its entire network of millions of subscribers at once. The idea is to specifically target Google, blocking advertising on its websites in an attempt to force the company into giving up a cut of its revenues."

Blocking ads "just for an hour or a day" might be enough to bring Google to the negotiating table, the executive told the newspaper.

http://arstechnica.com/business/2015/05/eu-carriers-plan-to-block-ads-demand-money-from-google/

• Re:simple solution: https only Re:simple solution: https only (Score: 2, Interesting) by isostatic on Sunday May 17 2015, @08:47PM

  by isostatic (365) on Sunday May 17 2015, @08:47PM (#184181) Journal

  Until your handset from your carrier comes with their root certificate pre installed and they proxy all your http connections too like companies do.

  Parent

  Starting Score:	1		point
  Moderation		0
  Interesting=1, Overrated=1, Total=2
  Extra 'Interesting' Modifier		0
  Karma-Bonus Modifier		+1
  Total Score:		2

• Re:simple solution: https only (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 18 2015, @06:53PM

  by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 18 2015, @06:53PM (#184711)

  I doubt Apple would allow carriers to fuck with the security of their iThings like that and Google owns Android, if the contracts that permit OEMs to include the Play Store on their phones don't already prevent this, I'm sure they soon will. Maybe they could do it on non-Apple, non-Android smartphones, but I doubt Google execs would lose sleep over that sliver of market share.

  Parent

• Re:simple solution: https only Re:simple solution: https only (Score: 2) by Gravis on Monday May 18 2015, @07:51PM

  by Gravis (4596) on Monday May 18 2015, @07:51PM (#184759)

  if they switch to only use https, the ISPs cannot interfere without breaking security and in the process make some EU regulators very unhappy with the ISPs.

  Until your handset from your carrier comes with their root certificate pre installed and they proxy all your http connections too like companies do.

  tl;dr?

  Parent

  • Re:simple solution: https only (Score: 1, Troll) by isostatic on Monday May 18 2015, @10:27PM

    by isostatic (365) on Monday May 18 2015, @10:27PM (#184851) Journal

    Depends on your definition of "breaking security"

    Parent