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> To put this in relatable terms, it's like walking down a country road and coming upon a crate of apples. While they don't say they are free, they look kind of
by chias 11y ago
> To put this in relatable terms, it's like walking down a country road and coming upon a crate of apples. While they don't say they are free, they look kind of free, and you're hungry.
This, I think, is where you and I disagree: the web was founded on the free exchange of information, where when you put something online, it's free (and then later, it's free unless you ask money for it via paywall etc). So it's more like deciding that an unspoken transaction is taking place and it should benefit you in some way if I pick up a sofa that you left on the curb. Yes I am benefiting from this furniture, and yes it's something I could have paid for elsewhere and you could have chosen to sell. And if I see you while I'm picking it up I may thank you. But that's as far as my obligation will go, and if you try telling me about how unethical i'm being by cleaning the couch before I use it (and in so doing throwing away the flyers you've stuffed under the cushions without reading them) then I will think you're being a little ridiculous.
I think I'm pulling the metaphor a little far here and I apologize for that, but I stand firm on the opinion that if you put a resource up on the internet, and you do not claim otherwise, then I have no obligation to you for consuming it. And the other thing is I have never seen a site that asks me not to use it if I block ads, a request I fully respect. Only ones that whine about how I should be less unethical and allow unknown third parties to violate my privacy and security and themselves make the lions' share of the profits so that the website can scrabble a few dimes themselves, a request that I do not respect in the least.
- kbenson 11y ago> This, I think, is where you and I disagree: the web was founded on the free exchange of information, where when you put something online, it's free That is definitely where we disagree. The web is a medium. Ascribing freedom to it is a fallacy, regardless of how it was first developed and used. It would not be where it is today without commercial interest at every level, and to me it's obvious that when a business is on the web, their purpose is not to give you free stuff, it's to make money[1]. I think to assume otherwise it to delude oneself. In other words, the internet doesn't have an opinion on whether it should be used for free things or not. > And the other thing is I have never seen a site that asks me not to use it if I block ads, a request I fully respect. Depending on how you interpret the message, I have. I've seen messages where the ads would be saying "We support this site with advertising, without thatrevenue we can't continue. Please don't block our ads." You can choose to either interpret that as them whining, or you can choose to interpret it as them expressing their wishes that ads be viewed on the site, and to use it with an ad blocker is against their wishes. 1: For that matter, nothing is free, ever. There is always an intended purpose, and an intended gain for the exchange. That gain may not be directly from the other party, and may not be financially based. For example, the gain could be the opinion of the other party or society in general (social capital, fame), a long play on later financial gain (establishing relationships), or the feeling of doing something useful for society or specific others (personal esteem), etc. If you can't determine why something is being offered, then you should be wary.