Mozilla warns Germany could soon declare ad blockers illegal
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What could be the reason this keeps happening everywhere???
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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/34873574
That would be totally unenforceable, imo.
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OpenSuSE is German, I'm having to wonder if I need to prepare switching distros in case they have to remove Firefox from their repos. I'll need to research the flatpak to see if it works with webcams for video conferencing.
It should.
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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/34873574
I don't know why but I feel relaxed about it. It's hardly enforceable and I don't even think Springer will win this. It's just a feeling from experience with those things in Germany.
They're also referring to browser based ad blocking which leaves blockers like pi hole or ad guard to be legal options.
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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/34873574
I wonder how much money Google bribing Germany to make it happened ?
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I don't know why but I feel relaxed about it. It's hardly enforceable and I don't even think Springer will win this. It's just a feeling from experience with those things in Germany.
They're also referring to browser based ad blocking which leaves blockers like pi hole or ad guard to be legal options.
Yeah this is never going to happen. Calm down people!
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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/34873574
Axel Springer says that ad blockers threaten its revenue generation model and frames website execution inside web browsers as a copyright violation.
This is grounded in the assertion that a website’s HTML/CSS is a protected computer program that an ad blocker intervenes in the in-memory execution structures (DOM, CSSOM, rendering tree), this constituting unlawful reproduction and modification.
This is complete bullshit thought up by people who have no idea how computers work. It's basically the failed youtube-dl DMCA takedown all over again. The (final?) ruling basically said that website owners cannot tell people how to read their websites.
BTW, Axel Springer products are the equivalent of FOX in America and they are often embroiled in lawsuits against them. Just saying.
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Time to switch back to text-only browsers.
I don't live in Germany though, so I don't have to worry about this legislation or do anything about it
Germany is the biggest economy in Europe and if this somehow passes it could spill over to the EU commission in no time. The Brussels effect could then take care of the rest. Laughing off fascist laws because they do not affect you right now is exactly the reaction fascists like them want you to have so they can corner you.
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This is truly dystopian. A ruling in Springer's favor here could imply that modifying anything on a webpage, even without distribution, would constitute a copyright violation (EDIT: only for material in which the copyright holder does not grant permission for the modification; so not libre licensed projects). Screen readers for blind people could be illegal, accessibility extensions for high contrast for those visually impaired could become illegal, even just extensions that change all websites to dark mode like Dark Reader could become illegal. What constitutes modification? Would zooming in on a website become illegal? Would translating a website to a different language become illegal? Where does this end?
This needs to be shot down.
So far they have just re-opened the case for re-examination, on Springer's behest. Yes, German corpos can sue as well.
Considering RIAA's takedown of youtube-dl failed so miserably - argued in much the same way as this one - I think this case has little chance of even partial success. (edit: slight correction)
In any case, it will take years to get results. Until then, nothing changed.
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I bet Google probably lobbied to revive this somehow.
I actually doubt Google wants shitty newspapers that are stuck in the last century to dictate how the internet works. Next step is that Google has to show them in the results and pay them on top or stop operating entirely. They won‘t stop until they‘re either bankrupt or the internet is toast.
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It's not capitalism, it would happen under any system. It's caused by psychotic power hungry narcissists willing to do anything to stay in control...you know, the type of people willing to do anything to obtain power in the first place. It is the bane of society, only the people who are unfit to have the power are the ones who seek it.
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I don't know why but I feel relaxed about it. It's hardly enforceable and I don't even think Springer will win this. It's just a feeling from experience with those things in Germany.
They're also referring to browser based ad blocking which leaves blockers like pi hole or ad guard to be legal options.
I just went through the comments ... people are losing their shit. And as always whenever Germany is mentioned, Godwin's Law is in full effect.
Apparently nobody remembers the very American and very similar youtube-dl takedown which ended in youtube-dl's favor. tl;dr: website owners cannot tell people how to read their websites.DON'T PANIC nothing has happened, and it won't for years.
(edit: slight correction)
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Germany is the biggest economy in Europe and if this somehow passes it could spill over to the EU commission in no time. The Brussels effect could then take care of the rest. Laughing off fascist laws because they do not affect you right now is exactly the reaction fascists like them want you to have so they can corner you.
Plus what if this hits the US and everywhere else too? I mean, as it stands, Free Speech/Expression and Free Press are basically dead in the 'States, what's one more right to kill?
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I actually doubt Google wants shitty newspapers that are stuck in the last century to dictate how the internet works. Next step is that Google has to show them in the results and pay them on top or stop operating entirely. They won‘t stop until they‘re either bankrupt or the internet is toast.
Making ad blockers illegal means they win the ad blocker war that YT has been waging for a while now, once and for all. Basically, ad blockers being banned by law would be YT's Hiroshima bomb on ad blockers and maybe even alt front-ends.
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Making ad blockers illegal means they win the ad blocker war that YT has been waging for a while now, once and for all. Basically, ad blockers being banned by law would be YT's Hiroshima bomb on ad blockers and maybe even alt front-ends.
Did you read the second part of my comment and thought about the implications?
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I actually doubt Google wants shitty newspapers that are stuck in the last century to dictate how the internet works. Next step is that Google has to show them in the results and pay them on top or stop operating entirely. They won‘t stop until they‘re either bankrupt or the internet is toast.
Next step is that Google has to show them in the results and pay them on top or stop operating entirely.
They already tried that...
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It should.
I know that my preferred browser (librewolf) does not and doesn't have a native build for OpenSuSE and often has problems with video conferencing in the flatpak. Its the only reason I've kept vanilla firefox installed.
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GAFAM
GAFAM is an acronym that refers to five major US technology companies: Google (now Alphabet), Apple, Facebook (now Meta), Amazon, and Microsoft.
Looked it up so no one else had to!
The good old French acronym XD
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This is truly dystopian. A ruling in Springer's favor here could imply that modifying anything on a webpage, even without distribution, would constitute a copyright violation (EDIT: only for material in which the copyright holder does not grant permission for the modification; so not libre licensed projects). Screen readers for blind people could be illegal, accessibility extensions for high contrast for those visually impaired could become illegal, even just extensions that change all websites to dark mode like Dark Reader could become illegal. What constitutes modification? Would zooming in on a website become illegal? Would translating a website to a different language become illegal? Where does this end?
This needs to be shot down.
Wouldn't it make browsers illegal? They're modifying the html code in order to present a webpage that is useful to the end user.
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It's not capitalism, it would happen under any system. It's caused by psychotic power hungry narcissists willing to do anything to stay in control...you know, the type of people willing to do anything to obtain power in the first place. It is the bane of society, only the people who are unfit to have the power are the ones who seek it.
It's caused by psychotic power hungry narcissists willing to do anything to stay in control...you know, the type of people willing to do anything to obtain power in the first place
You know, the type of people who end up with the most power under capitalism.
