2y ago

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.

www.theverge.com

YouTube’s ad blocker crackdown isn’t just annoying, it could be illegal in Europe

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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2y ago

YouTube’s ad blocker crackdown isn’t just annoying, it could be illegal in Europe

www.theverge.com /2023/11/7/23950513/youtube-ad-blocker-crackdown-privacy-advocates-eu

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2y ago

YouTube’s ad blocking crackdown is facing a new challenge: privacy laws - The Verge

www.theverge.com /2023/11/7/23950513/youtube-ad-blocker-crackdown-privacy-advocates-eu

38 comments

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?
- So Google are a bunch of scammers?
  Yeah, their whole business model is a scam. A currently (mostly) legal one, but a scam nonetheless.
  
  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.
- So Google are a bunch of scammers?
  I mean, yes?
People getting crazier by the day.. someone just told me I am supporting piracy by blocking ads! Like what?
- You're supporting piracy!
  Thanks for noticing!
  
  I literally have a t-shirt that says "support piracy".
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".
- 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.
- No.
  Netflix logging your IP is the equivalent of taking a photo of someone in public. Not ideal if you're into privacy, but it's a public place, so it's your problem. YouTube's Adblock detection is equivalent to patting them down to see if they have a weapon and requiring their ID. The software actively looks for changes, using technology that could detect what extensions you have installed, gather data to profile you better for ads, and monitor what you're doing in your browser while the tab is open.
  Both are ultimately for the same purpose, to prevent people from avoiding to pay them, but methods matter.
  
  Incorrect. https://gdpr.eu/eu-gdpr-personal-data/ states IP addresses are personal data.
Looks like a good time to move to the EU... 😬
- They're also leading the race to making encryption illegal, so...
  
  That's dumb and will never happen
  
  Nah, that's UK.
Sounds like a good time to be a VPN provider.
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!
- 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.”
- One privacy expert, Alexander Hanff, filed a complaint...
  I bet he always locked his bedroom door room as a teenager

38 comments