What could the Privacy Redirect add-on redirect Reddit links to?
@strypey nothing AFAIK, but the problem is much bigger than #Reddit & bigger than a simple URL substitution can handle. Think of all the articles on #CloudFlare sites. Hard-coding a site-by-site remedy would be an endless chase. We need a tool that will visit #privacy-hostile sites via some sandboxed anonymous Tor circuit, harvest the text, and store it on an onion host.
@aktivismoEstasMiaLuo
yeah, but you can browse #reddit using #torbrowser without #javascript.
https://old.reddit.com
@strypey
@Br0m3x @strypey Indeed. I wonder if Privacy Redirect could be smart enough to detect whether #Tor is installed, & launch Tor Browser to visit old reddit. OTOH, it'd still be direct Reddit access so Reddit would still profit from the ads. Ideally the mechanism would strip out the ads & promoted content.
@aktivismoEstasMiaLuo
> Ideally the mechanism would strip out the ads & promoted content.
Isn't all that stuff served using JS? I actually have no problem with static ads from anyone willing to sponsor websites. Static ads are aimed at the presumed readership of a website and require no tracking or datafarming of users.
@strypey
The same here. Static ads are OK.
@aktivismoEstasMiaLuo
@Br0m3x @strypey you're ignoring the money flow. The least intrusive of ads (static, non-targeted) are still harmful if the revenue they generate supports a #privacy abuser. Recall that we are talking specifically in the context of getting the content of privacy abusing websites to the privacy-respecting free world.
@strypey @Br0m3x w.r.t all sites (even privacy-respecting ones), I still have an objection to ads in general. Ads inherently create an arms race. I.e. a vendor reluctant to spend money on ads is forced to when their competitor does so. Ads are manipulative & they distort reality to undermine cost-benefit perceptions, so goods/services with poor value gain undeserved marketshare.
@aktivismoEstasMiaLuo in general, I agree with you. This piece makes a good case against marketing:
https://davelane.nz/tech-marketing-listen-ignore-research
But what about the use of static ads by cooperatives, not-for-profits, or other entities whose goals are to raise awareness of public interest matters, and to support the operator whose platform hosts their static ads?
@aktivismoEstasMiaLuo @strypey @Br0m3x
Aren't tobacco ads banned in the US? I think they're banned in most of the world by now, and US free speech does seem to have a number of exceptions too.
@kravietz @Br0m3x @strypey The history is here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulation_of_nicotine_marketing#United_States and the regulation goes further than i realized. I still see tobacco ads in magazines last time i checked.
@aktivismoEstasMiaLuo @Br0m3x @strypey
Wow, that's really silly especially granted all the "morality" restrictions still present in US. In most European countries you won't find *any* tobacco-related products anywhere in the public and even in shops it's being sold from separate counters with covered display. Also the branding is largely masqueraded so a "Marlboro" box is a generic white box with "Marlboro" written on it but no cowboys etc.
@aktivismoEstasMiaLuo @Br0m3x @strypey
Yes, same in the UK. No skulls and skeletons but real-life photos of lung cancer etc.
@aktivismoEstasMiaLuo @strypey @Br0m3x
Makes perfect sense. I don't know *any* adults who would read Playboy but every single male teen of my age was reading it as soon as we reached puberty 😂
@aktivismoEstasMiaLuo @Br0m3x @strypey
Fake id market to the rescue! 😂
@aktivismoEstasMiaLuo
let me understand your point of view. Correct me if I'm wrong
You are a freedom advocate in the internet but you want to regulate advertising. I see a lot of hypocrisy.
@kravietz @strypey
I would say your question is like liberalism 101...
@Br0m3x @strypey @kravietz I am in favor of regulating advertising. E.g. the US has /truth in advertising/ laws, making it illegal for advertisers to lie about any matters of fact. And to be clear, this thread was not to advocate legislative prohibitions on ads but for /the people/ to take action comparable to boycotts.
@kravietz @strypey @Br0m3x IOW, if you post a link to an article that sends your readers to a shit ad-encumbered & privacy-hostile website (like a #CloudFlare site), you should have better options at your disposal. It would be better for you to copy/paste the article text into a pastebin (preferrably onion) to spare your readers of the ads.
@Br0m3x @strypey @kravietz The Brits also prohibit false advertising but it's just for show. E.g. if you report a false ad to the #UK Financial Conduct Authority, they have a list of bogus excuses for not enforcing, like saying not enough people are impacted, or not enough people would make a buying decision based on the false ad, etc.
/the people/ can only control what their individual websites/blogs carry. Privacy and reputation issues aside, sites can do word-of-mouth ads by carrying (and being paid for) ad streams directly from product/brand websites of their choice.
The largest traffic sites will always have horrible ads, to which their contributors will always adapt their content to.
@Br0m3x @strypey @kravietz
@wyatwerp @Br0m3x @kravietz @strypey 1st consider the status quo: someone posts a #CloudFlare link. Most visitors do nothing special & thus helps/promotes CF and CF's user. Less than 1% use a plugin similar to Privacy Redirect which redirects all CF URLs to archive.org. Now consider the alternative: the blogger grabs the text of the article, "pastbins" it, & plugs the pastebin'd link.
@wyatwerp @Br0m3x @kravietz @strypey i propose this for articles that live on Tor-hostile (e.g. CloudFlare) websites & websites that are so polluted with popups and garbage as to be dysfunctional. In principle we can only hope that such sites collapse under their own dead weight, so it's sensible to cannabalize the content of value in a way that doesn't reciprocate back to them.
@strypey @kravietz @Br0m3x @wyatwerp ATM, as an ethical move i never quip a link to a #CloudFlare site or a site that 403s Tor users. And I never boost such links. Yet there are moments when I'd like to share that content. I'll share an archive.org link in such cases if I'm motivated, but it's still not ideal b/c archive.org captures the ads the help the adversary.
@kravietz @strypey @Br0m3x I think the tobacco industry in the US has a long leash when it comes to marketing to adults. If you pick up a Playboy mag it's probably loaded with tobacco ads.