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from the two-googles-is-enough-for-anybody dept.
Two stories about Google graced The Register in recent days.
The First was about Google (allegedly) stripping SSL from British Telephone (BT) mobile users search requests, even when the users had started from https pages, and were using BT WiFi subscribers piggy-backing off wireless connections, (I have no idea what exactly is meant by piggy-backing in this context). Personally, I would suspect BT of having a hand in that.
The open secret here is that for some VIP customers, search requests coming from their networks have SSL stripped as a service. This was mostly developed for schools where Google supplies their mail , web, and search services. Some of these places are statutorily obligated to filter their networks. BT may have been setting this bit themselves, but is difficult to tell.
A google engineer Adam Langly posted in a public forum that you can bypass any institutional ssl stripping by always accessing Google Searches via a different URL:
"However, if you want an encrypted search option, 'https://encrypted.google.com' is always encrypted and isn't affected by these methods."
You might want to set that as your Google landing page on mobile devices if you use wifi on some business or school campuses.
The second story concerns a trial balloon that Google is floating in a few markets called "Contributor" where, for a small(ish) fee, Google will strip ads out of pages, and share that fee with the web site in lieu of advertising revenue. The monthly fee, ranging between $1 and $3 per site, will be paid to the site operator after Google takes its cut.
El Reg speculates:
Perhaps Google and websites heavily reliant on ads are tired of netizens using ad-blocking browser plugins. Perhaps Google just wants to prove that the vast majority of people are OK with ads, and few want to spend even $1 a month on a web subscription.
So the question is, Soylentils: Are there any sites you would be willing to pay a dollar a month to visit without ads?
(Score: 2) by Appalbarry on Sunday November 23 2014, @09:06PM
Just as the open source fanatics who complain most bitterly about Microsoft are the ones who will almost never contribute a penny to any software project, commercial or not, I'm pretty sure that all of the ad hating, Ghostery and AdBlock using complainers would, in fact, never be willing to cough up a single cent to support the sites that they claim to love.
They're not standing on principle, they're just cheap.*
And to those who claim that they are never, ever, influenced by advertising: HA HA HA HA HA HA!
Get real folks, you're wearing Nike shoes, own an Apple computer, drink RedBull and Coke, buy Levis jeans, and watch either network television or NetFlix, and will line up to see the next Marvel branded movie. And buy the overpriced popcorn. You're as influenced by advertising as anyone else.
* GENERALIZATION, and yes, I know that YOU are the exception.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 23 2014, @09:37PM
Yes, I do contribute to FOSS, but never M$, my Nikes lasted 16 years, my Levis almost the same. I buy/invest in quality, not whats on the boob tube commercials. And, I'm the one that made the first post above "Absolutely Not" Ads are for suckers, and the weak minded.
(Score: 1) by tftp on Sunday November 23 2014, @10:27PM
I am happy to provide you with a counter-example. I use AdBlock Plus, Ghostery, NoScript, and all social blockers that exist out there. There are no ads in my browsers.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Monday November 24 2014, @02:11AM
Interesting that you block ads, and wear a star after your name, and the GP has no star, and trash talks blockers.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 24 2014, @04:21AM
(Score: 2) by halcyon1234 on Monday November 24 2014, @04:12PM
That reminds me, I've been meaning to buy a subscription. brb
... 30 seconds later...
Done. Holy shit, SN, that was amazing. I was actually able to go to subscription, click a button, go to Paypal, and be back in 30 seconds. I didn't even have to allow Javascript on SN to fill out a stupid form. Just temporarily allow requests from SN to PP to see the button. Wow, seriously-- having done some truly painful checkouts in my time, your process should be an exemplar to any other ecomm
Also, I block ads, so let me just add an extra "fuck you" to GP.
Original Submission [thedailywtf.com]
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Sunday November 23 2014, @11:13PM
No. And before you ask: Also not Adidas or Puma. Indeed, I have no idea who made my shoes (well, OK, strictly speaking, the owners of Nike shoes don't either).
No.
Never.
Rarely. And I honestly don't care if it's Coke, Pepsi, or some other one. ItÄs just that most of the time Coke is the one you get.
No.
What exactly is "network television"? If you mean cable: Yes, I use cable TV; I have to pay it anyway (it's part of my rent), so why shouldn't I use it? But then, I almost exclusively watch public TV channels (for which I also would have to pay if I didn't watch them).
Unlikely.
Extremely unlikely.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 24 2014, @12:13PM
Na, we just hate malware.