this post was submitted on 08 Nov 2023
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YouTube’s ad blocking crackdown is facing a new challenge: privacy laws | Privacy advocates argue YouTube’s ad blocker restrictions violate the European Union’s online privacy laws.::YouTube is launching a “global effort” to crack down on ad blockers, but some privacy advocates in the European Union argue that it’s illegal.

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[–] user_AW11@lemmy.world 115 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (2 children)

From the EU, I was one of the ones that reported this.

https://european-union.europa.eu/contact-eu/write-us_en

Perhaps "'privacy laws".

But I made a point about: monopolistic behavior of Google

And what is funny:

Your FBI recommends the use of adblockers.

https://www.pcmag.com/news/fbi-recommends-installing-an-ad-blocker-to-dodge-scammers

So Google are a bunch of scammers?

[–] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world 56 points 2 years ago (1 children)

So Google are a bunch of scammers?

Yeah, their whole business model is a scam. A currently (mostly) legal one, but a scam nonetheless.

[–] lorkano@lemmy.world 15 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

I can't blame them for wanting to restore monetization as adblockers removed most of the revenue from those platforms. But fighting adblockers is not a way to do this. They should either change entire YouTube business model to pay to access, or rework ads to be less annoying. If ads were not annoying as fuck, people wouldn't be pushed to install adblock in the first place. Adblock became popular when video ads with sound started popping up on the websites. This includes video ads in YouTube videos, people just hate to watch video ads.

[–] LemmysMum@lemmy.world 17 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

For every person using an ad blocker there's 10,000 that don't. Going after the fraction of a percent of perceived lost revenue from people who wouldn't click your ads or buy your products anyway is just the epitome of greed.

[–] Coach@lemmy.world 7 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Agreed. There is always a subset of customers in which a business loses money. The corporations today have grown soft and cannot stomach a loss. It's time we stop catering to weak companies and start catering to those who understand the risks associated with owning a business.

[–] gian@lemmy.grys.it 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Nah, their problem is some analyst, which does not understand what he was speaking of, who decide that the company should grow by x% in the next quarter. If the company grow only by x -1 % then investors sell, the stock lose value, the shareholders are poorer and the big wings of the company may lose their job due to "loss of confidence in the management" from the shareholders.

[–] Coach@lemmy.world 0 points 2 years ago

True, true. Building their own gallows.

[–] MonkderZweite@feddit.ch 13 points 2 years ago

So Google are a bunch of scammers?

I mean, yes?

[–] Decentralizr@lemmy.world 69 points 2 years ago

People getting crazier by the day.. someone just told me I am supporting piracy by blocking ads! Like what?

[–] Ragerist@lemmy.world 60 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Wouldn't Netflix's password sharing fall under the same law then?

They use user information like connected wifi and position data to determine if a device is used away from the defined "home".

[–] scarabic@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

GDPR doesn’t say you can never use any form of user data. It says a lot about what data is considered personal, what kind of disclosure and consent you need to setup first (mostly terms of service stuff), how you can store that data, how you can use it, and what responsibilities you have to remove or produce a copy of that data on demand. Until you’ve implemented GDPR it can be hard to understand what it is. But it’s not a super bonus +1 magic shield for all information.

[–] jmd_akbar@aussie.zone 49 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Looks like a good time to move to the EU... 😬

[–] Caradoc879@lemmy.world 21 points 2 years ago (2 children)

They're also leading the race to making encryption illegal, so...

[–] TheEighthDoctor@lemmy.world 23 points 2 years ago (2 children)

That's dumb and will never happen

[–] Valmond@lemmy.mindoki.com 12 points 2 years ago

Yeah I hope so it would be so idiotic to try.

[–] Caradoc879@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago

I mean... they literally try to fuck up the internet every few years. Eventually they'll get someth8ng through.

[–] MonkderZweite@feddit.ch 6 points 2 years ago (1 children)
[–] Womble@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Are you sure about that? The UK is doing dumb stuff no doubt, but its mostly sound and fury of a dying government with no chance of actually being implemented.

[–] whileloop@lemmy.world 21 points 2 years ago

Sounds like a good time to be a VPN provider.

[–] autotldr@lemmings.world 2 points 2 years ago (2 children)

This is the best summary I could come up with:


As YouTube tightens its restrictions on ad blockers, privacy advocates in the European Union are betting that government regulations can put a stop to the crackdown.

One privacy expert, Alexander Hanff, filed a complaint in October with the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC).

Hanff argues that YouTube’s ad blocker detection system is a violation of privacy — a charge Google denies — and illegal under EU law.

The European Commission seemed to reverse its stance in a proposed reform of its privacy law in 2017, stating that website providers should be able to check whether a user is using an ad blocker without their approval.

Patrick Breyer, a German digital rights advocate and member of the European Parliament, writes on Mastodon that “YouTube wants to force us into surveillance advertising and tracking with an anti-adblock wall.” Breyer says he is also asking the European Commission about the legality of ad blocker detection systems under the ePrivacy Directive.

It’s a bit too early to tell how the commission will respond to Hanff’s challenge, but the outcome likely won’t result in any changes to the existing system for those of us in the US.


The original article contains 827 words, the summary contains 192 words. Saved 77%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

[–] tinsuke@lemmy.world 34 points 2 years ago

sigh

For me, the most important bit was the basis of the claim that YouTube would be breaching privacy, and this is it (completely missing from the "summary"):

“AdBlock detection scripts are spyware — there is no other way to describe them and as such it is not acceptable to deploy them without consent,” Hanff tells The Verge. “I consider any deployment of technology which can be used to spy on my devices is both unethical and illegal in most situations.”

[–] speaker_hat@lemmy.one -1 points 2 years ago

One privacy expert, Alexander Hanff, filed a complaint...

I bet he always locked his bedroom door room as a teenager