YouTube Reportedly Bypassing Ad Blockers On Google Chrome

An anonymous reader writes: YouTube users have lit up twitter today, angry about an apparent change of policy by Google, which now seems to be showing ads in front of videos on YouTube even when using Adblock. Neowin reports: "Google's workaround seems to be applicable to all similar extensions and isn't exclusive to just AdBlock Plus. The company has not stopped at just skirting the extension, however. Users with AdBlock enabled will now have to see full-length video ads with no option to skip them half-way through, a feature YouTube has offered for a very long time. The only way to get the option back is to disable AdBlock, or to whitelist YouTube."

Comments

Back to Firefox

[Calydor]

Yeah, that's how you kill your own browser off, Google.

Re:Back to Firefox

[Anonymous Coward]

It was obvious to me, from the beginning, that the purpose of Chrome is to bypass adblocker technology. It was not a coincidence that Chrome was announced not long after adblocking on Firefox really began to block out nearly everything.

Re:Back to Firefox

[Anonymous Coward]

Chrome was the herpes of browsers anyways. Good riddance.

Firefox is getting shady also, and loves injecting ads into my tabs until I unchecked "show suggested sites" under new tab controls.

Re:Back to Firefox

[E-Rock]

We see Google in so many places that most people don't know that (financially) they're an ad company. All of the other businesses feed back into their money making line of business.

Re:Back to Firefox

[jargonburn]

Doubtful. Pretty sure Google updating their product and changing functionality (the ability to block ads isn't an advertised feature :P) doesn't violate any laws. Not only that, but:

A) You aren't forced to use their browser, at least, not by Google
B) You presumably agreed to Google's terms and conditions / EULA when you installed/used Chrome
C) The product is provided free of charge and you didn't pay Google a single cent for it.

Re:Back to Firefox

[CaptainDork]

No.

Part of the install process for Chrome is you agree that Google gets everything and you get nothing.

Re:Back to Firefox

[fnj]

Fix the fucked up legal interpretation that allows that kind of a so-called "agreement" to be considered enforceable. It is blatantly unbalanced and as such should be null and void under contract law. It is also not reasonable to expect the unempowered party to laboriously read and digest all the terms.

Everyone who was ever given an employee agreement to sign which contained a provision that you give up your clear rights to work in competition, even when fired or laid off involuntarily: you did mark it with an initialed note taking exception to that particular part, right? And you informed the employer that you were doing so, and were hired anyway.

Re:Back to Firefox

[Cederic]

What, 'about:config' and set 'javascript.enabled' to 'false' is too difficult?

Re:Back to Firefox

[trawg]

What, 'about:config' and set 'javascript.enabled' to 'false' is too difficult?

Possibly the bit where most of the websites in the world stop working

Or don't use Chrome.

[Anonymous Coward]

Just switch to another browser.

Re:Or don't use Chrome.

[ArchieBunker]

Sadly I find Chrome to run much faster than FF and Chrome doesn't keep adding useless buttons and features every week. I'm still waiting for FF to implement multi process and multi thread support.

Chrome is an advertising platform, nothing more.

[Anonymous Coward]

Chrome is an advertising platform, nothing more. Expect similar (and more invasive) behavior if you buy Google's new wifi router. People seem to conveniently forget that Google is the world's biggest advertising company. Their sole reason to exist is to fuck you coming and going, by showing you ads on the front end, then compiling every bit of data they can about you on the back end and selling it around. Google is the pimp and you are the whore.

I for one will not use a browser made by an advertising company.

LOL

[SuperDre]

Well, I don't like the ads myself, but I don't blame youtube for trying to circumvent the adblockers, it's their right to do so..

Re:LOL

[Anonymous Coward]

Since when does visiting a site give the site-owner any rights at all? Jesus Christ, the sense of entitlement of some people!

Re:LOL

[rudy_wayne]

Well, I don't like the ads myself, but I don't blame youtube for trying to circumvent the adblockers, it's their right to do so..

You are absolutely right. Youtube can do what they want. And so can I. One of the great things about Youtube is that I can live without it and Google can go fuck themselves.

Re:LOL

[ewibble]

That may be true and as a site they can do what they want. What is wrong is using there position as the producer of Chrome to do it. That is why no company should get to much control.

Re:LOL

[Reaperducer]

Their site, their rules. Don't like it? Go start your own Tube.

Since when does opening a browser window give a site-visitor any rights to content for free? Jesus Christ, the sense of entitlement of some people!

Re:LOL

[Oligonicella]

As long as they're not damaging the browser (app or person), they have as much right to deploy anti-ad blocking (or utterly shitty design) as you do to employ ad blocking. And no, their being successful at it is not damaging to the user. Perhaps you are under the mistaken belief that the site is there to benefit you instead of them.

Re:LOL

[AmiMoJo]

That's not how the web works. The site owner can offer to send you some HTML, CSS and other data. Beyond that they have no control over what you do with it. Don't want to display part of what they send you? That's fine, they don't have any right to control your browser.

If they don't want you to have their content, take it off the public web.

That's only on chrome I believe

[Anonymous Coward]

what they've done here what Internet Explorer and mozilla always wanted. Now everyone will move away from Chrome. You cant fight the users cause you will lose. You have to win somehow by giving them what they want and this is not it. I've always used Internet Explorer so that's not a problem for me. I still don't see ads at all.

Another stupid idea they might go with is blocking the others from seeing the video all together if we don't disable the adblock. That's what dailymotion and vimeo are hoping for. Then users will eventually move away and youtube will be a thing of the past. watch it go.

Re:Only affects "Youtube app" in chrome

[IamTheRealMike]

Which means it's probably not even intentional.

Re:Only affects "Youtube app" in chrome

[wimconradie]

Yes, I also just read that. Very misleading article and subject. The last paragraph says it only affects YouTube "app", so I feel it is a purposefully abuse of a catchy subject. At the uploader: Please change the subject!

Re: Chrome is an advertising platform, nothing mor

[Anonymous Coward]

People viewing the internet as "a capitalistic system" is what got us into this mess in the first place.

Re:begun

[vandelais]

Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will!