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Mozilla to expand focus on advertising - "We know that not everyone in our community will embrace our entrance into this market" (blog.mozilla.org)

submitted 2 months ago by golden_zealot@lemmy.ml to c/firefox@lemmy.ml

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[–] GenderNeutralBro@lemmy.sdf.org 36 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I don't believe a web browser should be designed specifically for one business model, period.

There are plenty of free sites. Truly free, with no ads.

There are plenty of paid sites, supported by subscribers.

There are plenty of sites funded by educational institutions, nonprofits, or similar.

There used to be plenty of sites that were supported by non-invasive ads.

I don't give a damn if everyone uses Facebook and Google. That doesn't mean we need to cater to their business model at the technical level.

[–] refalo@programming.dev 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

That doesn't mean we need to cater to their business model at the technical level.

From what I have seen, it does... if you want to have a popular site that stays running well, and don't charge your users for access.

[–] GenderNeutralBro@lemmy.sdf.org 7 points 2 months ago (2 children)

That's a problem for site operators, not for browser developers.

[–] refalo@programming.dev 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

You might be right, but I don't think that's a problem they're going to solve all on their own, meanwhile the rest of users will suffer.

[–] nickwitha_k@lemmy.sdf.org 0 points 2 months ago (1 children)

So, instead, they should cater to an industry that has long been a known vector for malware, abuse, and PII theft?

[–] refalo@programming.dev 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

that is the only current accepted alternative to paying for website access, yes

if you have better ideas though, we'd all love to hear them

[–] nickwitha_k@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 2 months ago

Your stance appears to be roughly "we've tried nothing and are all out of ideas, so let's keep doing objectively harmful things".

The simplest idea is not to accept the premise that an objectively harmful business model that only brings value to a shrinking minority is acceptable. Maybe commercialism of every part of the web isn't something that humanity needs. As for paying for access, there are plenty of extant models that have never been attempted with any seriousness.

Then again, the whole Linux ecosystem is able to thrive without bending the knee to the ad industry. There's no reason that a web browser cannot also thrive without ads except for a lack of desire to do so.

[–] Piece_Maker@feddit.uk 0 points 2 months ago

Maybe if people/browser makers didn't bend over to this nonsense, the websites would figure it out. You know, the people who's problem that is (because yes, if you run a website and want to make money off it, that's your problem to fix not mine, and it's certainly not my job to cater to it).

[–] GetOffMyLan@programming.dev 2 points 2 months ago

It's a problem for users.