I’m old, grumpy, not properly caffeinated and I want nice things. And by “nice things” I mean that I want to watch YouTube and am willing to watch ads to do so, in order not to add another $10 – $20 a month to the ever increasing cost (and decreasing value) of subscription services.
According to Matt Navarra (go subscribe to his awesome newsletter) via Android Authority, privacy advocate Alexander Hanff (I’m not linking to an X / Twitter profile) is at it again. Not content with filing a civil complaint with the Irish Data Protection Commission against YouTube’s detection of ad-blockers, he has filed a criminal complaint with the Garda Síochána – the police force of Ireland.
“I consider YouTube’s script to be spyware – aka surveillance technology, as it is deployed without my knowledge or authorization to my device for the sole purpose of intercepting and monitoring my behavior (whether or not ads load in my browser or are blocked by an ad blocker),”
Alexander Hanff – The Register
You don’t walk into a grocery store and demand they turn off their cameras, and tell their security guards not to look at you at all, while you browse the aisles for a loaf of bread. Most people would consider it reasonable that a store is able to protect itself from shoplifters and thieves. You don’t claim that your right to privacy allows you to shoplift at will.
Yet, to my mind, demanding that an online service not be able to detect that you are using an ad-blocker when you visit their website to consume their content is doing just that. Whether it’s YouTube or any other publisher, the content / video / web page you access costs money to produce, promote, store, and deliver to your browser. Using an ad-blocker denies the publisher (and downstream creators) the opportunity to earn revenue.
It’s a strange line for me. I believe that online users should have privacy and the right not to be tracked, but I also believe that companies have a right to make money, and if you’re not going to outright pay for the service, then you HAVE to give up something. You don’t get it for free! Free doesn’t pay the bills.
The EU has laws (and continues to implement laws) that advocate for consumer protection and I tend to agree with them. What I don’t agree with is Hanff’s assertion that being able to detect when someone is using an ad-blocker is spying and outside of the rights of the company.
You wouldn’t argue that Tesco / Aldi etc.. don’t have a right to protect themselves from shoplifters, but that’s exactly what you’re arguing when you say that online publishers don’t have a right to detect people using ad-blockers.
Yes, YouTube has boatloads of money, but how long will it have it if everyone watches for free without any monetization? How long will any publisher stay in business if it can’t monetize its product and is told that it’s not allowed to prevent people from accessing it for free?
Think about that the next time a security guard approaches you as you try to walk out of Aldi with a rotisserie chicken, a bag of frozen peas, and a box of cardboardeaux down the front of your pants.
Paul O'Flaherty 