OT rant: Youtube appears to be ad-free again. Was: Why is youtube-dl blocked

[Jeffrey Walton]

On Mon, Nov 6, 2023 at 4:17 PM Owen Thomas <owen.paul.thomas at gmail.com> wrote:
>...
> Some new thoughts have occurred to me. Is it possible that, rather than telling users they're being naughty, Youtube could instead be keeping tabs on the number of times it detects an ad-blocker at work so Youtube can seek payment for (and make an example of) these users at a later date?

I think it might be difficult to detect ad-blockers correctly or
accurately. I run Firefox in a configuration where all cross-site
cookies are blocked, and all tracking content is blocked. Both options
are available in Firefox Settings, and no ad blocker is needed. But I
regularly receive a message about disabling my ad blocker, even though
I do not run one.

Also see <https://ibb.co/fNjCKZS> and <https://ibb.co/ZLxZ7f6> (the
images of the settings and message).

And I am happy to receive the ads. I want to support sites by
receiving their ads. I have never run an ad blocker that I can
remember. But companies like "Freestar VRM by Admiral" are a bit too
greedy and sneaky. They want to surreptitiously track me, which is
beyond the mission of "serve the ad to support the site."

Jeff