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Yellow Flag: "Privacy on the web is fundamentally broken, for at least 90% of the population. Advertising on the web is fundamentally broken, for at least 90% of the population…" - Infosec Exchange (infosec.exchange)

submitted 1 year ago by sabreW4K3@lazysoci.al to c/firefox@lemmy.ml

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The founder of AdBlock Plus weighs in on PPA:

Privacy on the web is fundamentally broken, for at least 90% of the population. Advertising on the web is fundamentally broken, for at least 90% of the population.

Yet any attempt to improve this situation is met with fierce resistance by the lucky 10% who know how to navigate their way around the falltraps. Because the internet shouldn’t have tracking! The internet shouldn’t have ads! And any step towards a compromise is a capital offense. I mean, if it slightly benefits the advertisers as well, then it must be evil.

It seems that no solution short of eliminating tracking and advertising on the web altogether is going to be accepted. That we live with an ad-supported web and that fact of life cannot be wished away or change overnight – who cares?

And every attempt to improve the status quo even marginally inevitably fails. So the horribly broken state we have today prevails.

This is so frustrating. I’m just happy I no longer have anything to do with that…

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[–] sabreW4K3@lazysoci.al 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I would argue that PPA is analogous to what ABP implemented. It seems to be a case of multiple people arriving at the same conclusion as how to try and fix the problem, contextually.

[–] explodicle@sh.itjust.works 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Sorry if this is a silly question, but how is a good adblocker like Ublock Origin not the answer? I don't care if ad-supported websites go under. I'm fine with everything becoming subscription and donation based. I don't want to see ads and am OK with fewer websites as a consequence.

[–] sabreW4K3@lazysoci.al 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

We're not the target audience because we use uBlock. This is about the general user.

Regarding subscriptions and donations, I recently brought it up here: https://lazysoci.al/post/14704065

But if we essentially paywall the Internet, there will be a lot of people left behind, as most can't afford to donate or subscribe.

[–] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

There's a middleground: privacy respecting ads (like Mozilla is pushing w/ PPA) and microtransactions per page (e.g. pay whatever they would've made through ads, so a fraction of penny per view). I'm okay with either and think we should have both.

[–] sabreW4K3@lazysoci.al 2 points 1 year ago

I will happily put £10 a month into a pot, if I don't have to worry about how it gets distributed among the various instances I use and I think the same for lots of people, but someone needs to create that service.

[–] glasgitarrewelt@feddit.de -2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

there will be a lot of people left behind, as most can't afford to donate or subscribe.

They do fall behind either way. If you can't afford it, your privacy is exploited and you pay by being targeted by ads (if you don't know your ways around it).

[–] Feathercrown@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You know that's not the same thing. Come on.

[–] glasgitarrewelt@feddit.de 2 points 1 year ago

Neither solution is fair for some people. Being tempted into using your privacy as a currency, because you don't have much money shouldn't even be an option.