[icebraining]

Is advertising a right? If so, I've certainly never heard of it.

Advertising is speech (tracking aside). On one's own site, yes, we have a right to advertise.

I think it is time to send congress a message that states that we DO NOT WANT forced advertising and we will not be silent until we get it.

If you don't want advertising, you're free not to use websites with ads. Please don't fuck with free speech just because you don't like them.

Now, tracking is (IMO) a different issue and yes, it should be opt-in.

[thaumaturgy]

OK, advertising is speech, sure (I suppose). But, there's no right to demand that anyone listen to you; I am still free to peel the logo off my car, remove the tag from my shirt, fast-forward past commercials, tear pages out of magazines.

And that's the problem with trying to use protected speech as a defense for advertising: all that does is protect your right to use it; it does not force me to also use it. Once the content is loaded on my browser, on my computer, I have the right to do with it whatever I please -- including automatically block any of the pieces that I don't want.

You're free to have advertising on your site. I'm free to not download any of it. Freedom is great!

[icebraining]

Sure, but that's not really a contention point. Even Google, the biggest advertiser, lets you install AdBlock from their own "Web store": https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/adblock/gighmmpiob...