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AznHisoka 21 hours ago

If you arent paying, you are the product.

And if you are paying… you’re still the product as well.

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matheusmoreira 20 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Yeah. Only way to avoid becoming the product is to become a "pirate" instead. Pretty sad but it is what it is.

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thenthenthen 20 hours ago | parent [-]

Thers no ads on the high seas?

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qwerpy 20 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I've seen ads of several varieties:

- Public websites are chock full of ads

- Downloading a file often means hopping through several redirects (each of which is an ad) and sometimes even having to "complete an offer" to get the final link

- Private websites have some affiliate deal with VPN providers. "We did the research, this one is the best, if you subscribe through this link you will get some perks on our website".

Of all the kinds of ads out there, that last one is the least objectionable to me. They don't force it on you, it doesn't clog up the important parts of the site, and they supposedly do some research to pick the best provider to affiliate with. I "never" click on ads but this one worked on me.

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malfist 18 hours ago | parent [-]

Why are you doing it that way? That's the hardest way to get content and most likely to infect you along the way. Just torrent stuff.

	▲	qwerpy 16 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Torrent is what I meant by public/private website, I didn’t want to spell it out in case someone got offended. I rarely use direct file download but for the odd mp3, console firmware/keys, etc it can be easier to grab exactly what I want.

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nemomarx 19 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

If you can get a private tracker or sonarr running, pretty much no ads.

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dylan604 20 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Not until that asshat company wanting to deploy satellite constellation that displays ads from space. It's not like there are billboards in the middle of the ocean

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qwerpy 20 hours ago | parent [-]

That was a stretch, really had to jam that little dig in there, huh?

Although if they did somehow deploy their constellation as a legible ad, I wouldn't even complain. "Drink Coke" spelled out with a hundred satellites would be hilarious.

	▲	dylan604 19 hours ago \| parent [-]
		What dig?

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gremlinunderway 19 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Yeah this is where I think government-regulation would actually be a solid-fit to try and govern some of this manipulative and unfair practices.

There just needs to be a blanket-law where your data is considered every-bit as intellectual property as a piece of copyrighted media and for there to be consent established to sell or give your data to a third-party there needs to be an active exchange of payment, credit or services that is opt-in only, not opt-out from an intentionally obfuscated EULA update email.

Require active opt-in and consent along with a clear set of goods/services/payment, and active simple on-demand revocation with strict timelines, and you could have companies actually properly incentivizing users to sell them their own personal data instead of it just being harvested.

Unfortunately too many libertarian nutjobs out here think that the market here will magically fix all issues.

	▲	devilbunny 14 hours ago \| parent [-]
		> too many libertarian nutjobs out here think that the market here will magically fix all issues I'll see your libertarian market nutjobs and raise you reflexive "regulation will fix it" liberals (I don't really know the right term here, but I guess it's the one that fits most closely with US politics for the last 60+ years). Neither group has much room in its worldview for the simple fact that some people are just jerks and will abuse any system. Regulation can be done well, but doing so in a way that doesn't just hand the entire segment to the current incumbents is hard and regulatory capture isn't just something market worshipers conjured out of thin air.