this post was submitted on 18 Aug 2025
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[–] vatlark@lemmy.world 107 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (4 children)

I can buy a book and cross out words with a sharpie if I want. I can't go make copies of my edited book and distribute them, but I can do what I want with my copy that I legally acquired.

An ad blocker just edits the local copy. It's not re-publishing the site without ads.

[–] DaddleDew@lemmy.world 59 points 4 months ago

You tell that to the lawmakers. Because right now the only ones talking to them are the industry lobbyists

[–] iii@mander.xyz 32 points 4 months ago

You made one mistake: expecting laws to make logical sense, especially when it comes to technology

[–] LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.world 5 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

I wonder if someone set up a Language Model that just regurgitated the information in its own words without the ads (like LLMs do) how sites would be able to complain about it.

[–] vatlark@lemmy.world 6 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Yeah LLMs are actually a tricky copy-right problem and they seem to be getting a free pass.

Ad blockers don't seem to be tricky.

[–] iii@mander.xyz 8 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

they seem to be getting a free pass

Because the legal system is a war of attrition in who can pay the lawyers the longest. The traditional media knows they'll lose that ware against the tech magnates. They also know they'll win against the browser addon developer.

It's because the billionaires are the ones controlling the businesses of generative AI.

Adblockers are benefitting the middle class and the poors at the expense of billionaires, so they can't stay.

It's literally that simple, unfortunately.