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Mozilla warns Germany could soon declare ad blockers illegal

https://piefed.world/post/389882

Mozilla warns Germany could soon declare ad blockers illegal

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Aug 18, 2025 at 6:27pmWeb
Show threadvatlarkAug 18, 2025

I can buy a book and cross out words with a sharpie if I want.

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

Show threadDaddleDewAug 18, 2025
You tell that to the lawmakers. Because right now the only ones talking to them are the industry lobbyists
Show threadiiiAug 18, 2025
You made one mistake: expecting laws to make logical sense, especially when it comes to technology
Show threadLifeInMultipleChoiceAug 18, 2025
I wonder if someone set up an AI that just regurgitated the information in its own words without the ads (like LLMs do) how sites would be able to complain about it.
Show threadvatlarkAug 18, 2025

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.

Show threadiiiAug 18, 2025

they seem to be getting a free pass

Simply because the legal system is essentially a war of attrition in who can pay the lawyers the longest. The traditional media knows the tech magnates will win that war. The browser addon developer won’t.

Show threadProve_your_argumentAug 18, 2025

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.

Show thread_cryptagion [he/him]Aug 18, 2025
The German government openly supports a genocide, so I don’t give a flying fuck what those Nazi shitwanks think about adblockers.
Show threadtalAug 18, 2025

This is grounded in the assertion that a website’s HTML/CSS is a protected computer program that an ad blocker intervenes in the in-memory execution structures (DOM, CSSOM, rendering tree), this constituting unlawful reproduction and modification.

“There are many reasons, in addition to ad blocking, that users might want their browser or a browser extension to alter a webpage,” Nazer says, explaining that some causes could stem from the need “to improve accessibility, to evaluate accessibility, or to protect privacy.”

Stylus and Greasemonkey would presumably violate that, for example.

Show threadsexy_peachAug 18, 2025
Swatted for not viewing e-mail with remote content enabled
Show threadLucy :3Aug 18, 2025

Not unrealistic. You can easily get swatted for having mildly left takes and publishing them in the wrong form/media, or calling a politician “1 pecker”.

Andry Grote ist 1 Pimmel.

Show threadDe_NarmAug 18, 2025
Not even that, it would technically outlaw developer tools. Your browser allows you to freely edit the DOM at any point.
Show threadsunzu2Aug 18, 2025
Bro... Damn and just like that the entire westoid realm got take over by fascists and genocide enablers
Show threadbleistift2Aug 18, 2025

The case stems from online media company Axel Springer’s lawsuit

Think of that as Germany’s version of Fox news.

Show threadkowcopAug 18, 2025
This seems outrageous. If I don’t want to see an ad by closing my eyes, or using an automated mechanism (like an ad blocker), then stopping me should be illegal, not the other way around
Show thread6nk06Aug 18, 2025
After Don’t Copy That Floppy, here comes Don’t Close Those Eyes !
Show threadEvotechAug 18, 2025
Good fucking luck germany
Show threadsomerandompersonAug 18, 2025

(looking at the world)

Can you not make bull shit

FOR FIVE FUCKING MINUTES?!?

Show threadsamus12345Aug 18, 2025

World:

Show threadbleistift2Aug 18, 2025

If website developers don’t want browsers to “tamper” with their “code” in any way, then I say: Go for it. From now on, only perfectly valid websites will be displayed, since leniency toward the rules would in effect change the website.

Headings not in order? “Sorry, this website is broken and can’t be displayed”.

JavaScript error? “Sorry, this website is broken and can’t be displayed.”

Forgot to close a <div>? “Sorry, this website is broken and can’t be displayed.”

An <input> without an associated <label>? “Sorry, this website is broken and can’t be displayed.”

<img> without an <alt> text? “Sorry, this website is broken and can’t be displayed.”

Duplicate IDs on the page? “Sorry, this website is broken and can’t be displayed.”

Show threadDem BosainAug 18, 2025
I don’t disagree with you, but this is how internet explorer stayed the #1 browser for so long. It would accept any garbage and display it somewhat properly, while Netscape tried sticking to standards.
Show threadbleistift2Aug 18, 2025
Thanks for quoting the lore. I wasn’t there when it was written.
Show threadDem BosainAug 19, 2025
~ouch~
Show threadirelephant [he/him]Aug 18, 2025
Lets bring back xhtml then.
Show threadbleistift2Aug 18, 2025

Ad-Blocker stellen eine wichtige Maßnahme zum Schutz der NutzerInnen im Internet dar, da sie effektiv vor Angriffen durch Schadprogramme schützen, die über extern eingebettete Werbeeinblendungen erfolgen.

Ad blockers are an important tool for the protection of users on the internet, since they protect against attacks launched from malware embedded into advertising banners. [1]

The German institute for security in information technology.

Ad-Blocker & Tracking

Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik
Show threadLumpyPancakesAug 18, 2025
Another good day to be a VPN provider, I guess.
Show threadmfed1122Aug 18, 2025
Gah! Et tu, Germany? You were supposed to be one of the good ones when it came to privacy! Who is left now, Switzerland?
Show threadsunzu2Aug 19, 2025

Proton moved their servers into Eu from Switzerland.

The rich parasites are attacking privacy across the regimes they control.

Show threadCevilia (they/she/…)Aug 19, 2025
Switzerland are working on that.
Show threadtuxAug 18, 2025
This just in. Cutting up a magazine or newspaper is also illegal /s
Show threadgnuplusmattAug 19, 2025

Can I not choose what executes on my computer?

If your malware is copyrighted, don’t send it to my computer