[outsidetheparty]

As far as I can tell, Admiral's code detects use of ad blockers, and puts a wall around the content in response. If you're not using an ad blocker, there's no wall, and the content is freely accessible.

So in a roundabout way, they're effectively claiming that the ads themselves are the paywall. It's a clever argument, to be sure, but I'm not sure it's a reasonable one.

[orclev]

There's also a question about if the ads are collecting any tracking info or not. There's a specific exception to the anti-circumvention clause in the DMCA for anything that can be used to collect personally identifiable information. If the ads being shown are of the typical variety then it's perfectly valid to circumvent them per the DMCA.