A discussion at reddit. Is it ethical to block online ads using your brower? My personal opinion: Hell, yes. I don't block Google Ads and I don't block flash ads at many sites where ads are relevant and show some taste. Site owners and advertisers who invoke guilt ethics could do better.
The Scientific Indian
Science as a way of life
Search
Profile
I am working on some very smart things to say here. Really. Meanwhile, there's this and this. Welcome.
Suggestions
Recent Posts
- Winding down this blog
- Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction
- Vigorous Scrubbing, the musical
- Google Female Human Body Browser
- Dr Hans Rosling's 200 Countries, 200 Years, 4 Minutes - The Joy of Stats
- Why is space dark?
- I want to save my people
- How close can you get to a Neutron Star
- Wikileaks
- What did Ed Witten do in college
Recent Comments
- loans on Inidbloggies 2006 - Results Announced
- writer freelance jobs on Starting young
- WongSHELLY on What are worthwhile problems: Feynman's moving letter
- Naresh on Pranav Mistry's SixthSense
- onkar on Pranav Mistry's SixthSense
- Nikhil K on Bible and blood in my backyard
- D. C. Sessions on If your parents don't like Ubuntu
- Riesz Fischer on Entangled Reality
- anon on A matter of Life and er... Matter
- Len on A matter of Life and er... Matter
RSS Feed
Archives
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
« Chernobyl a wildlife haven now? | Main | The British and the French, once upon a time »
That dang online ads problem again
Category: Creative commons
Posted on: August 17, 2007 5:24 AM, by Selva
TrackBacks
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://scienceblogs.com/mt/pings/48172
Comments
You can make a sort-of distinction between blocking them by not downloading them on one hand, and downloading but never displaying on the other (the Firefox Adblock extension can be set to do either). In the latter case it's a simple case of you choosing how to display the downloaded material; you can choose what and how big a typeface to use, how and whether to show images and so on. This is no different. On the other, by never downloading the ad files you are potentially cheating the site owner of a needed bit of statistic for their sponsors.
So to be morally just a little more safe (and I do think either is fine), set Adblock to download but not display.
Posted by: Janne | August 17, 2007 8:56 AM
I'm with you, Selva. I have a hard time seeing an ethical obligation to be bombarded with advertising.
Posted by: JBL | August 17, 2007 5:17 PM