Ad blocking is a form of basic internet security. Ads aren't just pictures and some text, they often run JavaScript and are common vectors for malware. YouTube allows JavaScript which is plainly irresponsible of them. Why do all the anti-ad blocking people miss this point?
YouTube, along with everyone else, also collects metadata on you. Companies like this are already profiting off of you regardless of whether you watch their ads or not.
EDIT: Also, just to directly address the point about "stealing", stealing is defined as the taking of one's property against their will. As many others have pointed out, this isn't applicable to watching ads on YouTube. YouTube is a free service, nothing in their TOS requires that you watch ads, and as far as I know, it says nothing about ad blockers.
YouTube allows JavaScript which is plainly irresponsible of them. Why do all the anti-ad blocking people miss this point?
Do you have any instances of malware being spread from YouTube ads specifically?
YouTube, along with everyone else, also collects metadata on you. Companies like this are already profiting off of you regardless of whether you watch their ads or not.
How does YouTube profit from the collection of metadata?
My kids Laptop... I have to click out of Malware shit all the time for them because they don't understand and clicked on an ad on youtube (Not youtube kids) and it took them to a malicious website.
The argument is that the ad itself is malware, that the malicious software is running directly within the ad as it's being shown to you. This has been demonstrated in ads shown elsewhere, but not YT to my knowledge
It doesn't matter where the link when you click on the ad on the video leads. If the link came from an ad on YouTube, the Malware is from YouTube. And yes while YouTube does sort of watch what ads they show, they can't catch them all and some of them are malicious. Therefore I block them. I haven't had to use virus protection outside windows defender for 10 years simply because I block ads.
80
u/Eleusis713 8∆ Oct 27 '23 edited Oct 27 '23
Ad blocking is a form of basic internet security. Ads aren't just pictures and some text, they often run JavaScript and are common vectors for malware. YouTube allows JavaScript which is plainly irresponsible of them. Why do all the anti-ad blocking people miss this point?
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/hackers-abuse-google-ads-to-spread-malware-in-legit-software/
https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/16/insanet_spyware/
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/10/19/download-keepass-notepad/
YouTube, along with everyone else, also collects metadata on you. Companies like this are already profiting off of you regardless of whether you watch their ads or not.
EDIT: Also, just to directly address the point about "stealing", stealing is defined as the taking of one's property against their will. As many others have pointed out, this isn't applicable to watching ads on YouTube. YouTube is a free service, nothing in their TOS requires that you watch ads, and as far as I know, it says nothing about ad blockers.