Should we use ad blockers to protect our privacy and peace of mind online, even if it means taking money away from publishers that depend on ad revenue? Manoush sat down last week with journalist Casey Johnston to discuss the growing ethical dilemma, and tons of listeners chimed in with their own ad-blocking philosophies.
We thought number of the responses were really useful – so useful, in fact, that we wanted to share them further. Here are just a handful of the many opinions out there.
Please, usher in a golden age of content:
Might this mean new focus on producing high-quality content so publishers get white listed, @NoteToSelf? A writer with her fingers crossed.
— Sarah Aylward (@sarah_golden) September 26, 2015Sometimes, the ads themselves aren’t the culprit:
“The most objectionable part of advertising is cross-site tracking. A while back the EFF released an ad[d]-on called Privacy Badger. It was not an ad blocker. Instead, it observed the behavior of the various services the web sites you visit use, and it only blocked a service if it detected that service tracking you across different domains. The effect after about a week of having this "ad" blocker installed? Almost all of my browsing was completely ad-free.” - Matt McMahon
“I have no problem with advertising. It's the engine of our culture industry. I have a problem with a consumer surveillance industry that we have no basis to trust….Why can't we review and correct our browsing history profile? Why can't we have any agency with our identity and behavior data? Do we need the equivalent of a credit report for the adtech industry?” - Dave Carroll from Brooklyn, NY (read more from Dave here)
Until subscriptions mean you don't see ads, ad blockers remain tempting:
“[M]ost sites that have fairly successful paywalls (NYTimes, WSJ, Washington Post, etc.) do not give you a different experience if you pay for them. You still get all the annoying ads despite your subscription. While I understand that subscriptions don't pay for the full cost of running the site, for my most-used sites I would happily pay even more to get an ad-free experience. But, since that isn't an option, I'll pay what they let me pay for access and then use an ad blocker to get the experience I ultimately desire.” - Michael S. from Silver Spring, MD
Where Internet access is limited, ads are the first to go:
“Finally! Yes absolutely yes I will be using mobile ad blockers, especially since they help me not hit my data limits. Advertisers want me to unblock? Quit hogging the bandwidth. If you want to know what that's like, come rural, where your internet options are limited and every byte you use is expensive. Not everyone lives in NYC.” - Justme from South Carolina
Maybe we should all take a look at Google Contributor:
“Google Contributor...is a system through which you can allot a certain amount of money on a monthly basis that will be used to pay the sites you visit for the ads you do not see. It is in beta (as are most Google products) and it only supports a specific ad network (Google's). I think it's a great way to support the sites you use.” - Matthew Fry from Salt Lake City, Utah
Or the 'Ethical Ad Blocker' blunt force:
@NoteToSelf please tell me you saw this http://t.co/PogpAA3GRw
— Ryan Stevens (@OtherWhiteTofu) September 24, 2015
And let's all dream of a more targeted ad-blocking system:
“What I would like to see is an app that sets guidelines for responsible and non-invasive mobile ads that would whitelist every site that adheres to those standards...Eventually we would end up with a framework for advertising that doesn't need to resort to annoying gimmicks to get eyeballs. Sites that met the requirements for white-listing would be able to assure advertisers that [their] ads were being seen by real people and end users would be able to passively support content providers.” - Jason Storey
Maybe advertisers just need to do better:
“I was using a browser without ad-blocker to catch up on some football highlights from the weekend, and EVERY SINGLE VIDEO had the EXACT SAME unskippable 30-second ad. I don't mind most ads, but if the content provider isn't even trying to avoid an awful user experience, it's hard to sympathize with them.” - Richard from Ohio
“When done in a logical way that fits the overall layout of a site I usually don't mind ads. But when someone starts screaming in my face with pop ups and video-ads on autoplay I block the heck out of them. And I don't feel bad at all.” - Mats Nordström (read more on Facebook)
Or maybe the media is overreacting and bringing this upon themselves:
@NoteToSelf Publisher's iOS 9 hysteria may be ironically self-fulfilling. So many articles. Now adblock really will become mainstream.
— Stephen Claypool (@Stephenclaypool) September 25, 2015“Ad blockers have been around forever on the desktop and somehow advertising survived. I don't think this is the end of the media industry as panicked as the media industry is about it.” - JP Bedell (on Facebook)
Got more thoughts? Keep the conversation going in the comments below, on Facebook, or on Twitter. Or, better yet, send us a voice memo - you could hear your voice in next week's show.
