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Mozilla warns Germany could soon declare ad blockers illegal (www.bleepingcomputer.com)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/firefox@lemmy.world
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[–] 108 points 1 year ago* (4 children)

I can buy a book and cross out words with a sharpie if I want. I can't go make copies of my edited book and distribute them, but I can do what I want with my copy that I legally acquired.

An ad blocker just edits the local copy. It's not re-publishing the site without ads.

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  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago* (1 child)

    I wonder if someone set up a Language Model that just regurgitated the information in its own words without the ads (like LLMs do) how sites would be able to complain about it.

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  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Yeah LLMs are actually a tricky copy-right problem and they seem to be getting a free pass.

    Ad blockers don't seem to be tricky.

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  • [–] 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

    they seem to be getting a free pass

    Because the legal system is a war of attrition in who can pay the lawyers the longest. The traditional media knows they'll lose that ware against the tech magnates. They also know they'll win against the browser addon developer.

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  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago

    It's because the billionaires are the ones controlling the businesses of generative AI.

    Adblockers are benefitting the middle class and the poors at the expense of billionaires, so they can't stay.

    It's literally that simple, unfortunately.

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