[timmg]

> Why don't these companies just offer a paid version of their products?

Youtube is a great example of that. I see post after post of people here bragging about using ad blockers on Youtube -- rather than pay. Nevermind that the creators on Youtube get screwed by this behavior. Most people on HN can afford to pay the monthly fee (easily!) But somehow they think ad blocking is more "moral".

It's ads or subscription fees or all these services go away. Pick one.

[Liquix]

If you pay for it, YouTube will not stop collecting your interests, clicks, how long you spend hovering over each video, which comments you spend time reading, etc. They will continue to feed this data into their AI, making it smarter and building a more complete profile of you, which can then be used to manipulate your political views and change the world at large.

They'll just stop showing you ads, which we can accomplish for free via an adblocker. Many people are willing to pay a premium for actual privacy (see: Apple)

[kingcharles]

I pay for YouTube to get rid of the ads, although the ads I saw were actually really well targetted and I enjoyed most of them the first time around (!). The thing is the data that YouTube collects actually works for and against me - it is used for evil purposes, but it also works to make my experience on YouTube more enjoyable by recommending videos that I would like.

[timmg]

Ad blockers don't change that. They track you for recommendations and view counts and things like that either way.

I suppose you could watch Youtube in a new incognito window for every session. But I doubt that is what most ad-blockers-users are doing.

[Nextgrid]

The problem is that subscribing to YT Premium requires a Google account (with valid personal data - fake details won't work for payment processing), where as "freeloading" with an ad-blocker allows you to stay more anonymous without even signing in (and clearing cookies every time).

[timmg]

Just curious: do you use Amazon? They track everything you've bought, everything you view, all comments you read, etc.

Does that bother you any more or less than Youtube?

[userbinator]

I don't need to pay to close my eyes or plug my ears.