5 ms·

New Freebox update censors ads by default for 5.5M users

17 points by mnml_ 14y ago

kondor6c 14y ago
I'm sure that this would also reduce traffic on some of nosiest advertisements which would benefit an ISP greatly.
- Lennie 14y ago
  ads don't add up to a lot of traffic for an ISP, video and so on does.
pavel_lishin 14y ago
Without an option to disable this, or an option to white-list certain things, this is basically just highly targeted censorship.
- mnml_ 14y ago
  Its possible to disable it but it's enabled by default. Lets see how long they last before Google strike back ! Free has always been in trouble with Google because they don't want to pay for the peering.
  - laurentoget 14y ago
    Knowing the reputation of Xavier Niel, he is gleefully waiting for Google's counter attack.
martinced 14y ago
This is huge news. ISPs modifying the HTML served is a big issue. I'm not that much of a fan of ads, but disabling ads is crazy. It's not working that well apparently. First thing is: a lot of Google ads are served directly inside GMail (these are the ones I notice the most) and at the top of the result from Google search. If that trafis is over HTTPS I've gat to wonder how Free plans to filter them out. But in any way: Free already wanted to throttle YouTube, which is not OK. If I'm paying Free that much of an amount each month I want my bandwith. I Free cannot provide me the bandwith I want, then I'll go to an ISP who can and who doesn't throttle me.
- Nikkau 14y ago
  Free isn't modifying HTML, but filtering ads servers IPs.
twiceaday 14y ago
'Censorship' of spam emails is ubiquitous. How is this different from that for an end-user?
- Lennie 14y ago
  Spam email do not contain any content you want to read. Webdevelopers/contentcreators create content but use ads to fund development of those works.
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
jdangu 14y ago
The flip side of net neutrality issues. Don't tamper with my Internet please.
VeejayRampay 14y ago
Good riddance though. I wish other ISPs would follow suit. People do NOT like advertisements, the popularity of AdBlock shows that pretty clearly.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
- testimoney 14y ago
  Well we (web developers) are trying to make the ad experience as best as we can. A lot of websites wouldn't even exist without ads (Google, Facebook etc...). If ads are annoying you, use Adblock, but do not remove ads from every user by default! I work for big startup in the US, and we wouldn't exist without ads.
  - baby 14y ago
    I think they're just doing that to get good publicity (oh Free doesn't show ads on internet? I think I'll sign-up at that ISP!) and also to piss off youtube. They will turn it off by default in a couple weeks/month for sure. Mark my words.
actionthomas 14y ago
They seems to only want to block Google ads. Free and Google have had issues for a long time about 'who pays for bandwidth'. Google doesn't want to pay, so Free blocks their revenues.
chriscombs 14y ago
Freebox Revolution = 2 M users only !!! 5.5 M users, but 3 M are using the Freebox V5 (the previous version is unable to block ads).

17 points by mnml_ 14y ago

kondor6c 14y ago

I'm sure that this would also reduce traffic on some of nosiest advertisements which would benefit an ISP greatly.

Lennie 14y ago
ads don't add up to a lot of traffic for an ISP, video and so on does.

pavel_lishin 14y ago

Without an option to disable this, or an option to white-list certain things, this is basically just highly targeted censorship.

mnml_ 14y ago
Its possible to disable it but it's enabled by default. Lets see how long they last before Google strike back ! Free has always been in trouble with Google because they don't want to pay for the peering.
- laurentoget 14y ago
  Knowing the reputation of Xavier Niel, he is gleefully waiting for Google's counter attack.

martinced 14y ago

This is huge news. ISPs modifying the HTML served is a big issue. I'm not that much of a fan of ads, but disabling ads is crazy. It's not working that well apparently. First thing is: a lot of Google ads are served directly inside GMail (these are the ones I notice the most) and at the top of the result from Google search. If that trafis is over HTTPS I've gat to wonder how Free plans to filter them out. But in any way: Free already wanted to throttle YouTube, which is not OK. If I'm paying Free that much of an amount each month I want my bandwith. I Free cannot provide me the bandwith I want, then I'll go to an ISP who can and who doesn't throttle me.

Nikkau 14y ago
Free isn't modifying HTML, but filtering ads servers IPs.

twiceaday 14y ago

'Censorship' of spam emails is ubiquitous. How is this different from that for an end-user?

Lennie 14y ago
Spam email do not contain any content you want to read. Webdevelopers/contentcreators create content but use ads to fund development of those works.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]

jdangu 14y ago

The flip side of net neutrality issues. Don't tamper with my Internet please.

VeejayRampay 14y ago

Good riddance though. I wish other ISPs would follow suit. People do NOT like advertisements, the popularity of AdBlock shows that pretty clearly.

deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
testimoney 14y ago
Well we (web developers) are trying to make the ad experience as best as we can. A lot of websites wouldn't even exist without ads (Google, Facebook etc...). If ads are annoying you, use Adblock, but do not remove ads from every user by default! I work for big startup in the US, and we wouldn't exist without ads.
- baby 14y ago
  I think they're just doing that to get good publicity (oh Free doesn't show ads on internet? I think I'll sign-up at that ISP!) and also to piss off youtube. They will turn it off by default in a couple weeks/month for sure. Mark my words.

actionthomas 14y ago

They seems to only want to block Google ads. Free and Google have had issues for a long time about 'who pays for bandwidth'. Google doesn't want to pay, so Free blocks their revenues.

chriscombs 14y ago

Freebox Revolution = 2 M users only !!! 5.5 M users, but 3 M are using the Freebox V5 (the previous version is unable to block ads).