Spotify Bans Ad Blockers In Updated ToS (theverge.com)

In an updated Terms of Service policy sent out on Thursday, Spotify is now explicitly banning ad blockers. "The new rules specifically state that 'circumventing or blocking advertisements in the Spotify Service, or creating or distributing tools designed to block advertisements in the Spotify Service' can result in immediate termination or suspension of your account," reports The Verge. From the report: The service already takes significant measures to limit ad blockers. In a DigiDay report from last August, a Spotify spokesperson revealed that the company has "multiple detection measures in place monitoring consumption on the service to detect, investigate and deal with [artificial manipulation of streaming activity]." After it was reported last March that 2 million users (about 2 percent of free Spotify users) were dodging ads with modded apps and accounts, Spotify began cracking down by disabling accounts when the company detected abnormal activity. Users were sent email warnings and given the chance to reactivate their accounts after uninstalling the ad-blocking software. In some rare cases where the problem persisted, Spotify would terminate the account. The new Terms of Service, which go into effect on March 1st, will give Spotify the authority to terminate accounts immediately, without warning.

Comments

Customer respect

[presearch]

A long time ago, a founder of a very large software company (still in business BTW but not with him) told me
he was against copy protection (and banned the use of it in the company) because you owe everything to your
customers that pay and should disregard people that don't pay you anything.

I thought that was an enlightened approach, and still do.
That company is now neck deep in the software-as-a-rental model and the long paying customers feel screwed.

I think they auto find another cad package...

Wonder how it will deal with network level blocks

[linuxtelephony]

I'm on a network where the admins have blocked many/most ad servers for security reasons (ad companies have historically been tricked into serving malware with the ads).

I wonder how Spotify will deal with that. This is not a block on the app, or the device, or even the computer, but rather at the network level. If their ads are served by the same servers as their content then it should be fine, but if their ads are served by separate servers that are already on a blocked list then it could be an issue. And not one the user can control unless they switch to a different network, if available, or disable wifi and use mobile data. If they shut down my account for this then so be it, because I won't use my mobile data just for them when wifi is available.

Re: Banning ad blockers will never work

[Darinbob]

However ads are dangerous and lead to other issues. Once there are ads the company will now want to have targeted ads to maximize income, or just add more and more ads to maximize income, outsourcing the ads to a third party that they can't control, etc. On computers these ad services are main vector for malware.

An online music service should theoretically be better for the consumer than the radio in the automobile. There we are allowed to changed the station instantly when an ad comes on and we're not being tracked by what stations we prefer.

Then I don't need Spotify.

[Chas]

Sorry, but ads are, unfortunately, a transmission vector for malware and compromise code.

I do not choose to open my systems to that.

And, even if I did, it's MY desktop real-estate, not the ad purveyor's.

If they wish to lock me out of their service? C'est la vie.