3 ms·

The argument is interesting but I find it hard to believe EU regulators really wish to nuke the entire industry of ad-supported content.

Asooka 4y ago
> nuke the entire industry of ad-supported content God, I wish. Imagine a world of content with no ads, supported by willing payment, not data extortion. It's not even that far off, a lot of the people I follow make their money from subscriptions, donations and sponsorships.
- emodendroket 4y ago
  Well, what's the point of... say, Hacker News... if I can only read publications I already subscribe to?
  - PeterisP 4y ago
    Most of the links I click on Hacker News are to content which the authors would make and publish even if their site had 0 ad revenue. A good publication on a website is a consequence of them building the thing or wanting to express an opinion, not putting the cart ahead of the horse and building or writing some crap just to attract random visitors and show them ads.
    - emodendroket 4y ago
      I see it as something of a problem that most of the world’s newspapers are “writing some crap just to attract random visitors and show them ads” if we’re deeming that model illegitimate.
      - PeterisP 4y ago
        For the specific niche of Hacker News style tech content (there are many domains where it's different - e.g. actual local news/politics/etc), when a major newspaper or news site is linked, then it generally either republishes or rewrites some primary source, and we here would prefer to see a link to the original - e.g. the actual paper from the university or the project description from its author with all the nitty-gritty details, instead of a vague pop-sci rewrite to make it more palatable to a non-tech audience. And in those cases, yes, the news site is only writing about the content to push ads, and there is no reason to legitimize various intermediaries which do not add value.
alkonaut 4y ago
The law is pretty clear. For example it’s not acceptable, as the article describes, to have 2 buttons saying “accept” and “options”. It just isn’t. So many (most?) sites are in a state of noncompliance simply because they believe their business model requires it. But I find it hard to believe regulators create laws without the intent of enforcing them. The fines for noncompliance can be very stiff. Personally I’m hoping there will be a few high publicity examples made soon.
- emodendroket 4y ago
  Why do you find that unbelievable? It would pretty much impossible for any polity to enforce every single law literally as written.

Asooka 4y ago

> nuke the entire industry of ad-supported content God, I wish. Imagine a world of content with no ads, supported by willing payment, not data extortion. It's not even that far off, a lot of the people I follow make their money from subscriptions, donations and sponsorships.

emodendroket 4y ago
Well, what's the point of... say, Hacker News... if I can only read publications I already subscribe to?
- PeterisP 4y ago
  Most of the links I click on Hacker News are to content which the authors would make and publish even if their site had 0 ad revenue. A good publication on a website is a consequence of them building the thing or wanting to express an opinion, not putting the cart ahead of the horse and building or writing some crap just to attract random visitors and show them ads.
  - emodendroket 4y ago
    I see it as something of a problem that most of the world’s newspapers are “writing some crap just to attract random visitors and show them ads” if we’re deeming that model illegitimate.
    - PeterisP 4y ago
      For the specific niche of Hacker News style tech content (there are many domains where it's different - e.g. actual local news/politics/etc), when a major newspaper or news site is linked, then it generally either republishes or rewrites some primary source, and we here would prefer to see a link to the original - e.g. the actual paper from the university or the project description from its author with all the nitty-gritty details, instead of a vague pop-sci rewrite to make it more palatable to a non-tech audience. And in those cases, yes, the news site is only writing about the content to push ads, and there is no reason to legitimize various intermediaries which do not add value.

alkonaut 4y ago

The law is pretty clear. For example it’s not acceptable, as the article describes, to have 2 buttons saying “accept” and “options”. It just isn’t. So many (most?) sites are in a state of noncompliance simply because they believe their business model requires it. But I find it hard to believe regulators create laws without the intent of enforcing them. The fines for noncompliance can be very stiff. Personally I’m hoping there will be a few high publicity examples made soon.

emodendroket 4y ago
Why do you find that unbelievable? It would pretty much impossible for any polity to enforce every single law literally as written.