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I think it's justifiable to reject ads, because there are more reasons for it than just wanting stuff for free. But bypassing of paywalls IMHO crosses a line. N
by pornel 4y ago
I think it's justifiable to reject ads, because there are more reasons for it than just wanting stuff for free. But bypassing of paywalls IMHO crosses a line. Nobody owes you free content.
Ads almost always come with intrusive tracking, and the adtech industry is out of control. They're full of sleazy dark patterns. They do a poor job filtering phishing and malware. The personalized ad model has devalued reputable publishers and made any clickbait profitable. But if the ads don't pay, something has to.
There are reasonable business and technical reasons why paywalls aren't 100% secure (e.g. potential customers want to sample before buying, subscribers don't like to be forced to log in in in-app browsers that don't remember their cookies, etc.), so the fact that a bypass is technically possible is not an excuse.
- super256 4y agoI'd argue that people who use this plugin wouldn't pay for the articles anyway. I think we all know why music & film streaming services succeeded :) And I'm sure offerings like Apple News+ will do follow for text. Anyway, I'm leaving a quote from Gabe Newell here: “The easiest way to stop piracy is not by putting antipiracy technology to work. It’s by giving those people a service that’s better than what they’re receiving from the pirates.”
- pornel 4y agoThe sites targeted by the extension are precisely the ones that tried to be gentle, and don't have DRM nor strict login requirements. This is precisely what Gabe argued for. What else do you expect them to do to?
- super256 4y ago> [...] don't have DRM nor strict login requirements. This is precisely what Gabe argued for. No. Gabe did not argue against DRM or logins, but he argued for better service. The steam login wall and DRM are certainly not the better service he meant. We are still lacking a product with great execution in the news space. I'm expecting something similar to spotify/apple music or steam.
- Xymist 4y agoWe had one. A great one. Ad-free RSS/Atom feeds from news sites aggregated into a text-only feedreader of your choice. It's mostly gone now.
- asdff 4y agoI can go to the grocery store or library or cafe right now and read the current issue of the nyt and put it back without paying a dime, on the other hand. If someone found an interesting story they'd want to share with me, they could cut it out and give it to me or photocopy it. Its interesting how digital content is often much more locked down than physical alternatives.
- zem 4y agoi agree. what i would really like is an extension that filters out paywall links in some way - highlights them in red, or makes them unclickable with a hover saying "paywall", or some other thing that keeps me from hitting the page at all.