Still true a decade later.

It's my network. I control what does or does not go through it.

The same reason why it is ok to not eat shit.

Whenever something on my computer tries to tell me I can't do something with it.

It's not like these ads have any respect.

I think all ads should be blocked. If billions in funding is going to be put to use it should go towards offsetting environmental impact and developing products that are actually better, instead of just convincing people to settle for a cute jingle

no ads in web 1.0 and the internet was perfectly fine

There were ads! But these were simple banner graphics of 468x60 pixels. In the worst case it was an animated GIF. But hosted on the same server as the page and without any tracking shenanigans.

Because even US secret services (multiple of them) say so.

Isn’t ad blocking, as the industry magazine AdAge has called it, “robbery, plain and simple”?

Robbing corporations is based, though, actually.

there were so many fucking ads online in the late 90s

and you couldn't block them because they were either served from the same domain or used the same plugin as the content and it was an all-or-nothing thing

all those goddamn blinking gifs with "click here" and "you're our millionth visitor", and the pop-ups, and the flash bars with "shoot the ducks"...

a lot of those came up in the late 90s early 2000s though. the early 90s were mostly just text based pages.

yeah, but as soon as the web actually had enough traffic to take off the ads were everywhere. before 1996 it was basically just a prototype.

I remember the add that made me install my first add blocker. It stated playing the sound of knocking on glass and a voice going "Hey You!". With a looped videoof some guy waving at me.

Every so often one gets through my blocker and they have only gotten more annoying.

Yeah, people seem to have mostly forgotten about the forced audio playback that was really prevalent for a while. It was crazy effective because you would have to hint down the actual ad causing the issue on the page to stop it.

You know, it's pretty easy to tell you weren't old enough to see the original Internet when you say something like that, because this was what it was like:

They’re unnecessary, distracting, some try to track you and others can have malware. No thanks.

It has never even occurred to me that it might not be okay to block ads on connections or devices that I own -- or even those that I don't, for that matter.

Here's why it's okay to block ads in pretty simple terms:

Ads can contain ransomware; that is to say, a seemingly innocent ad can deliver a payload which will run on your computer, lock your files, and demand you pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars anonymously.

Now if you go to the website that served the ad and tell them, "I allowed ads on your site because I support your right to monetise your content, and now I have to pay hundreds or thousands of dollars, will you help me pay that" or "will you pay that for me since your site served the ransomware," you know what they will tell you, every single time, without fail? Whether they actually answer you, or more likely, just delete your email. They're telling you that it's your problem. That you should have secured your computer better.

So secure your computer better now. Block all the ads.

Getting a little more technical, use Firefox or a fork of it. Use Linux if you can. Use a Mac if you can't. If you really must use Windows, know how to secure it. I use Windows 11 at work, I'd never use it at home, but I had a talk with the IT guy, and he let me do a few things to it. I know more than he does, but he's the one with the job, so I told him what I'd do before I did it, I did exactly what I said I was going to do, nothing more nothing less, and I still think my home computer is more secure, but I'm a lot less worried about using the work machine. I think it's wild that so many companies just use Windows. I'm not trying to hate on Windows. It's good for gaming and it's accessible. I'd love to see more companies roll their own *nix or just use Macs (which run macOS which is UNIX certified).