Companies increasingly aim to control how users interact with their content online, threatening user freedom. As more companies crack down on browser exten...
make an account, enter personal info, and pay a monthly fee
be tracked across the Internet by advertisers, who’ll try to manipulate you into buying stuff
That’s a crappy set of options, so it’s no wonder people opt for ad blockers since both alternatives involve sharing personal information (which is likely to be exposed in a breach).
Instead of that, I want these choices:
microtransactions through my browser that pays for content I access (with a monthly cap)
privacy respecting ads served by my FOSS browser based on local browsing history (doesn’t talk to the Internet)
Advertisers still get relevant advertising, but they don’t get the personal information, just data about which ads were accessed due to which categories. Users could choose which sites to pay for directly, and which to pay for via ads, the only change is that privacy is preserved.
That’s totally fair.
That said, the current choices are:
That’s a crappy set of options, so it’s no wonder people opt for ad blockers since both alternatives involve sharing personal information (which is likely to be exposed in a breach).
Instead of that, I want these choices:
Advertisers still get relevant advertising, but they don’t get the personal information, just data about which ads were accessed due to which categories. Users could choose which sites to pay for directly, and which to pay for via ads, the only change is that privacy is preserved.