Some places are far worse, but have been that way for decades. Others are actively in a headlong rush to get there as quickly as possible.

Germany had adblockers back then? No? Well, in all honesty, this is why I prefer ripped content. I've watched ads on my alone time. There's nothing quite like watching VHS rips with ads in them...so...I don't know...it's kind of out of proportion to call someone a pirate when a pirate is free.

I was making a joke about World War 2 but yeah, the UK is using George Orwell's 1984 as a guide to controlling its populace.

If that is so, then it is a flawed endeavor by foolish folk, or they just have another agenda.

Me blocking adverts on my PC, has no impact on other folk, so it is very much a personal thing and no way any person can be legally forced to watch something (adverts) they don't want to see.

In fact, the whole forced adverts thing is anti-consumer ... at least for those who have no wish to watch adverts.

So while adverts might help finance shows etc, that is no excuse for them being forced upon folk who don't want to see them. They should be opt in, a voluntary thing.

Take myself for instance. I might watch something that includes adverts, but I don't watch the adverts. So in no way shape or form are those adverts achieving anything by way of me, except to make me dislike, hate even, those who are enforcing such. Just a completely stupid dichotomy.

I hate them, because they are disruptive and often spoil a mood, and because something is being forced on me that I absolutely have no interest in. And I am a great believer in not subjecting myself to crap ... there is enough rubbish in my head already.

If we were to look at angst in the world, I think we would find that forced adverts contribute considerably. If they didn't, then why do so many of us go to efforts to avoid them.

So do we really want additional angst in the world? Don't we already have enough.

Just a completely stupid dichotomy.
Yes, I just repeated myself ... but it deserves repeating ... unlike so many of those adverts.

It is and never was forbidden to be "anti-consumer", including bothering them with tons of advertisement everywhere: Even against their will and in general blocking add blockers without the ability to filter out any of those "blocker-sites". The entire bloat is really serious in many cases and it is putting so much load on many machines and the entire net infrastructure. Stuff happens because as usual "the power is pretty one sided" and the ones in the reign are simply making the rules and the few who got control over the advertisement-cashflow are the ones making the big money, at the cost of a mass virtually getting as good as nothing out of it.

I was mostly able to get ride of as good as any advertisement but it was really a lot of sweat and i sometimes have to switch out blockers in order to avoid blockers, doing a lot of "debloating" on new smartphones and of course always install custom browers of which not much more than one (Mozilla)... is still not linked to the Google-infrastructure.. and that one barely is able to survive.

Guess the law may even see my actions as "avoiding DRM" as this entire advertisement-infrastructure is basically a computer-program and software trying to force me "in order to watch and use it the way it has been intended". I still consider it my freedom to use and watch it DRM free... no matter if it could already be considered "gray" from a legal point of view.

Yeah, DRM is on many spots, only need to open the eyes.

It is not fairy tale... from a legal point of view, using a add blocker is already some sort of "avoiding DRM" because it is a software using a certain form of DRM, nothing else. However... there are not many countries comparable to Germany who are that much "anti-consumer" when it comes to software such as Germany; i guess they really got many of the most consumer-hostile politicians there together with a industry making very one-sided laws.

Of course any sort of "modification" of a DRMed code (of any software) can as well be seen as a violation but... they was noticing themself that is does not hold many truth if it comes to addblockers as a addblocker is only changing the users frontend, while not making any modification to the sites "backend". Basically it is only changing the way how a user is receiving its content but not actually changing its proprietary data at its source... which can indeed be seen as some form of "adaption".

Sure "piracy" is not the correct word, as it is widely considered to be used on other rather exorbitant terms, although even small (copyright) violations are sometimes not legal, but it totally depends on a countries laws as usual.

You mean you don't like flicking on the telly late morning and watching the slew of funeral and life insurance adverts? Who would have thought that being reminded of death every 10 minutes isn't an enjoyable experience? :P

Indeed.

In reality, it is a rare day you catch me watching commercial channels these days. I enjoy a number of things on the ABC and some on SBS, and I have a special downloader anyway, so I watch when I feel like watching. And in all truth, I could just watch my backlog of purchased discs and never have time to watch anything else ... only so many hours in a day etc.

The way I understand the law to work, is that it doesn't care about DRM. The law does not support DRM and DRM has no legal standing. However, what the law cares about is modifying software, which is illegal. So removing DRM is an illegal activity, because the software is being modified to do so.

So, when do we get to the point where the devices have to be fitted with cameras to view certain things, and that camera tracks your eyes to ensure that you watch the advert in its entirety? Well, hopefully never, but I have noticed that certain sites have been attempting a this is a very rudimentary and easily circumvented form, where if the browser tab isn't active the advert will stop playing...

Adverts are to me, a measure of products to avoid.

"Here you go. Dont buy this. Because the people that paid for the advertising would rather harass others into buying it over casual find by need seeking."

If you live in the States. Advertising is literal brain washing. The irony is some folks proved it worked in a UK documentary, about the power of suggestion.

oh dear Smacky-McNuts

I hope you can forgive me for calling me dear

edit
yes i drank a few, no drugs tho
this time dutch brew corona

Als long ad ads can illegally store data on my machine and modify code on my machine, I will block them without a second thought. Ads as they are cannot be deemed legal since almost all of them put informations and files on your PC without your permission.

Running a fork of firefox with more privacy options and all the tracker blocking enabled + ublock origins set up to block every third party and third party scrips and i whitlist script for websites the first time i visit them, this way i get a clean and fast browsing without any distraction.

I use Brave on the mobile phone, works very well blocking ads and banners.