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SECURITY November 17, 2024 at 7:00 p.m
An ad blocker hides advertising on websites and videos. But there are a few things to consider when it comes to ad blockers. Also in terms of legality.
Many people use ad blockers on the Internet to avoid advertising. But that can also cause problems. (Source: Montage and image source: Netzwelt)
- What is an ad blocker?
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Advantages and disadvantages of ad blockers
- Are ad blockers illegal?
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Conclusion
Many websites finance themselves through advertising on the Internet. That’s fine, but some sites go overboard with ads. The websites are then covered by numerous advertising banners and annoying pop-ups constantly pop up. It’s almost even more annoying in videos. Before you can watch a short video on your favorite platform, you first have to endure a long commercial block that cannot be skipped.
You can avoid this inconvenience with an ad blocker. However, you should keep a few things in mind. We have compiled all the important information you need in this guide.
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What is an ad blocker?
The “Ad” in Adblocker comes from the English word “Ads”, short for “advertisement” and means advertising in German. As the name suggests, the software blocks advertisements on the Internet. To do this, it checks the domain names of the desired website and compares them with a blacklist. If advertising is detected, it is automatically blocked.
Advantages and disadvantages of ad blockers
Used correctly, an ad blocker can offer several advantages when surfing the Internet. However, using it also comes with disadvantages that we don’t want to withhold from you. We’ll give you an overview.
Advantages
The biggest advantage of an ad blocker is, of course, switching off advertising. This actually affects your security too. Because advertising can not only be annoying, but also dangerous on dubious websites such as illegal streaming portals.
Cyber criminals are only too happy to add malware, also known as adware, to pop-ups and advertising banners. If you click on the modified advertising carelessly, your mobile device or computer could be infected.
Some ad blockers are also able to prevent tracking. Companies collect information about you through their websites. Your online activities are tracked, logged and analyzed. With the results, companies can better assess your online behavior and tailor advertising to you.
Since an ad blocker no longer requires ads, plug-ins and third-party analysis to be loaded on websites, you will also notice a difference when loading websites. These can be accessed much more quickly.
Disadvantages
Although you can access websites faster, an ad blocker can have a negative impact on your internet connection. Since the software must always be active in the background, the connection may become slower under certain circumstances. In addition, you are protected from tracking by companies, but the ad blocker always has you in view.
Some ad blockers themselves collect data about you in order to analyze your user behavior. This is also due to the fact that many ad blockers now work with artificial intelligence and this has to be fed with information. Ad blockers are also not error-free. It can always happen that advertising is displayed despite the software being active.
With an activated ad blocker, it may also happen that you are no longer able to access certain websites. This is not a mistake, but rather a targeted approach against ad blockers.
Many Internet content providers are not the biggest fans of ad blockers because they finance themselves through the advertising shown. Therefore, they use a script that detects ad blockers. You will then be asked to deactivate the software for the corresponding page or you will have to leave it.
Are ad blockers illegal?
The perception that ad blockers are illegal is widespread. So are you committing a crime if you use such software? Although it is a gray area, ad blockers are generally not illegal. Even some antivirus programs and VPN services come with ad blockers. However, the topic is much more far-reaching and has been hotly debated for years. The legal situation in this regard may change in the future.
As already indicated, the debate goes back to website operators who are not at all happy with the use of ad blockers. After all, advertising is a large source of income for many websites. Opponents of ad blockers argue, for example, with copyright law.
They state that ad blockers would change the copyrighted appearance and structure of websites. However, the question was already clarified in court when Axel Springer Verlag took action against Adblock Plus.
The Hamburg Regional Court ruled in favor of the ad blockeras this only changes the structure of the website and does not affect the substance of the programs. The only important thing is that no access controls are circumvented. That is actually illegal.
Competition law is also an important aspect of the discussion. Opponents of ad blockers say that such software makes it more difficult to earn money through advertising and thus impairs fair competition. But this argument was also undermined in several court cases. These resulted in the ruling that the use of ad blockers does not violate competition law.
Anti-adblocker debate
The fact is, however, that companies suffer losses due to ad blockers. Drastic countermeasures are the reaction. Companies have been working with tools that detect or outsmart ad blockers for years. Some websites deny you access if the ad blocker is activated or force you to watch a commercial as compensation. This arms race has resulted in further conflicts in recent years.
The best-known example is probably YouTube. The video platform has banned the use of ad blockers for some time. Data protection advocates view the techniques used to detect ad blockers as critical because they would interfere with users’ privacy and violate European data protection law.
YouTube users are also dissatisfied with the approach because they are warned or even blocked when using ad blockers. However, there are now tools that also circumvent this problem.
Conclusion
The use of ad blockers is generally legal, but remains a difficult area. Once you have decided on a program, you should just make sure that it does not access your private data and does not restrict the copyrighted content of websites. However, the latter is quite rare, which is why you should focus primarily on your privacy.
Even if you aren’t committing a crime by using ad blockers, keep in mind that the software can cause harm to some companies by blocking ads. Even your favorite content creators are affected if, for example, you block annoying advertising clips before and in YouTube videos.
One solution would be to disable the ad blocker on secure websites from reputable companies that really rely on advertising revenue. As long as the advertisements are not too intrusive, they hardly disturb you when surfing the Internet.
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How do ad blockers affect the overall user experience on websites?
1. Are ad blockers illegal?
2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of using ad blockers?
3. Can ad blockers be used to circumvent copyright laws?
4. How do websites counteract the use of ad blockers?
5. Is the anti-ad blocker debate driven by revenue concerns or privacy concerns?
