Ask Slashdot: To AdBlock Or Not To AdBlock?

Posted by Soulskill on Tuesday August 21, 2012 @12:02PM from the ethics-of-free dept.

Is there an acceptable compromise to behavioral targeting? On the one hand, I don't want to be profiled by unscrupulous advertisers. On the other hand, I feel that the advertiser is the middleman between the things I care about (content) and the dollars that support those things. My compromise is to take a page out of BF Skinner's book, Walden Two, and view the situation as a sort of absurd behaviorist experiment. Basically, I Adblock everything, but whitelist the sites I support. Is this too much? Not enough? What should individuals do protect themselves, if anything at all?

2 of 716 comments (clear)

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

Re:The birds and the bees by Alter_3d · 2012-08-21 13:27 · Score: 5, Funny

(For the slow: the user is the bird or bee, the flower is the content provider, the nectar is the content, and the pollen is the advertisement.)
I dont get it. Which one is the car?
Re:Just block all ads and don't worry about it by CohibaVancouver · 2012-08-21 14:22 · Score: 5, Funny

If you'll bare with me for one second
I'll keep my trousers on for now, if you don't mind.