> There is an unwritten social contract here. Is this the same unwritten social contract which means we shouldn't use a mute button on ads? After all, the TV c

> There is an unwritten social contract here. Is this the same unwritten social contract which means we shouldn't use a mute button on ads? After all, the TV company gets paid to send ads to us, and muting those ads means less ad effectiveness. Don't use the toilet during an ad break either. Nor use the +15 seconds functionality on video recorder playback to skip ads. You can see how the social contract for my entire life include the option to avoid ads, and even with 'freeloaders', the broadcast TV business model worked. YouTube started long after Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc. ("the Betamax case") established time shifting as an allowed practice in the US. Their business model, based on any implied social contract, must therefore include that possibility, eg, that people may watch content via downloaders. They could respond by, for example, placing ads directly in the downloaded video steam. This would mean less profit, but no social contract requires customers to keep a company profitable. And it would be odd indeed if broadcast TV had a more effective business model in the face of freeloaders than online video.