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Using Adblock Plus to Block Ads is Legal, Rules German Court -- For the Fifth Time (arstechnica.co.uk)

Posted by BeauHD on from the constitutional-rights dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Using Adblock Plus to block ads on websites is legal, a German regional court has ruled. The suit, brought by the company behind the leading German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung, is the fifth such case to be decided in favor of the makers of the software, who are based in Germany. The court in Munich also ruled that the "Acceptable Ads initiative," a scheme that requires larger companies to pay for their ads to be whitelisted by Adblock Plus, is acceptable under German law. "To the contrary, said the court, users have the right to block those or any ads, because no such contract exists," Adblock Plus's Ben Williams writes. "Additionally, the judge ruled that by offering publishers a way to serve ads that ad-blocking users will accept, the Acceptable Ad initiative provides them an avenue to monetize their content, and therefore is favorable, not disadvantageous, to them." Previously, Adblock Plus's parent company Eyeo has won court cases against the German publishing giant Axel Springer, Germany television companies Pro 7/Sat 1 and RTL Interactive, and against the companies operating the Zeit Online and Handelsblatt websites.

4 of 237 comments (clear)

  1. I started blocking ads when they started tracking by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    When Google did their unified login, and unified privacy policy, that was the point I started blocking adverts. You watch something on YouTube, or visit a shopping site, and you get served up ads for that product where-ever you go. "Do not track" is ignored.

    Adverts became privacy invasions, and they are easy to block, so I block them. IMHO Firefox's new "block tracking items" is one of few new features in Firefox that are the right choice.

    And Android is worse, a unique ID sent to Google all the time so it can track you. It's claimed to be anonymous, but its trivial for them to link it to a real identity. And its sent whether you opt in to personalized ads or not.

    Why should I watch your ads if you do shit like that Google? I've already ditch Google for DuckDuckGo due to tracking.

  2. Re:There are no acceptable ads by Darinbob · · Score: 4, Interesting

    And there are so few who've signed up that it's unlikely you'll see any acceptable ads anyway.
    I've got the "allow some non-intrusive ads" checked and I've never seen any.

  3. Re:Court favoring homegrown boys? by jandersen · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Germany, like most (no, all) countries in Europe, is a Rechtsstaat (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rechtsstaat - note the certain Germanic sound of that word), so follows the rule of law; the North-European countries in general, and the Germans in particular seem to take a particular pride in being law-abiding and care a great deal about not just the letter, but also the spirit of the law. This may be different in America - one sometimes get that impression - but we have a strong tradition for this in Nordic culture; look up as an example the concept of the Lawspeaker (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawspeaker). Knowing, understanding and following the law is a part of our cultural identity, and implying that our courts are biased or corrupt is hurtful and rather insulting on a level that may surprise outsiders.

  4. ABP too mainstream now by flappinbooger · · Score: 3, Interesting

    adblock plus is better than nothing but uses tons of ram and is just too "mainstream" now.

    ublock origin is the way to go. Much lighter weight, saves ram and processor, has that exclusive air about it.

    ublock origin was blocking ads before blocking ads was mainstream.

    --
    Flappinbooger isn't my real name