this post was submitted on 16 Aug 2023
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Believe it or not, I think he has a point and isn't at all a hypocrite. He'd show you how to pirate and torrent stuff (and has before) while also telling you he doesn't recommend stealing. What he was saying is that the content isn't meant to be free. The ads pay for the content. So not watching ads means the producer doesn't get paid. Its a soft form of piracy but he wasn't telling you what to do about that. He just said "Be aware you're not giving people anything for their content". I don't know why thats controversial, he's not even suggesting its illegal or even immoral. I never understood the arguments here but I also dont visit twitter
Piracy I associate as an illegal act that carries penalties of fines and imprisonment. Like real piracy...
As blocking is legal and something even the FBI recommends. This is more a website shortcoming than an act of piracy. Which if blocking ads is piracy then at that point the word just becomes diluted, and at that point who even cares.
Isn't "taking something without paying" what piracy is? With YouTube, the "payment" is your time spent watching an ad. If you bypass that "payment", are you not effectively pirating the content?
It doesn't seem that diluted to me. I actually agree with Linus's take that adblocking is piracy. It's just a much more socially and legally-acceptable form of piracy.
If anything, I feel like adblocking on YouTube does even more direct damage to content creators than pirating blockbuster movies does to movie studios, honestly. If ten thousand people pirate a new Marvel movie, Disney's not going to hurt too bad from that. But if ten thousand people adblock a YouTuber, that can significantly hurt their income by damaging their ad impression ranking. Advertisers on YouTube set their rates based on the engagement they get from a channel, and drops in engagement will typically result in drops in CPM.
It's the reason I pay for YouTube Premium, myself. I use YouTube pretty much all day long, and I want the creators whose content I spend my day watching to get paid for their work. And if not for YTP, I would 100% be adblocking YouTube, otherwise.
If I tune into an NFL game using an OTA antenna, then turn off my TV during commercials and turn it back on for the game, would that be piracy?
The measurement of the act doesn't change the act.
I think the difference is websites have a terms of service they expect you to follow. If you have an account you have agreed to that. TV doesn't.