Restating the obvious: adblocking declared legal · 2015-04-21 17:25 by Ben Williams
It may surprise readers of this blog to know that some advertiser groups believe blocking ads is illegal. They are upset that adblockers impede their multi-billion dollar business (or in this case, euros) of shoveling ads at you whether or not you like it or asked for it. In fact, a group of publishers in Hamburg, Germany was so upset that they actually took Adblock Plus to court.
Today, after a four-month trial, reasonable heads prevailed as the regional court in Hamburg ruled in our favor by declaring that ad blocking is, in fact, perfectly legal. I know, it’s restating the obvious. But it cost us lots of blood, sweat and tears nonetheless.
The Hamburg court decision is an important one because it sets a precedent that may help us avoid additional lawsuits and expenses defending what we feel is an obvious consumer right: giving people the ability to control their own screens by letting them block annoying ads and protect their privacy.
For those of you who are interested in legal proceedings, you may find these details fascinating:
- The plaintiffs (the parties that sued us) are Zeit Online GmbH and Handelsblatt GmbH. These companies operate three websites: Zeit.de; Handelsblatt.com; and Wiwo.de. The defendant is Eyeo GmbH (which is the company that administers Adblock Plus).
- The lawsuit charged that we should not be allowed to block ads on websites owned by the plaintiffs. They sought what is known as injunctive relief (which is called “Unterlassungsanspruch” in German).
- The Hamburg judge ruled against the plaintiffs and in favor of Adblock Plus, upholding the right of Adblock Plus users everywhere to continue to block annoying ads and protect their privacy.
Now that the legalities are out of the way, we want to reach out to other publishers and advertisers and content creators and encourage them to work with Adblock Plus rather than against us. Let’s develop new forms of nonintrusive ads that are actually useful and welcomed by users; let’s discover ways to make better ads; let’s push forward to create a more sustainable Internet ecosystem for everyone.
You know where to reach us.
Comment [24]
« A year later, the call for better ads is deafening: the manifesto turns 1
Paul Horsfield · 2015-04-21 18:27 · #
Congratulations on winning the case, these advertisers seem to forget about us, the internet users, rights not be bothered by meaningless adverts that have no interest to us whatsoever, if we wanted their services we would search for them ourselves.
Reply from Ben Williams:
Thanks, and don’t worry, we won’t forget about you.
Hans · 2015-04-21 18:30 · #
Congratulations!
Gmail used to have decent, non-intrusive ads in the past. They were the only ones I didn’t block – and actually clicked on occasionally! But at some point, they too started using colors and distracting, moving graphics. That was the moment I started blocking gmail ads as well. By now I hardly ever see any advertising on the internet at all. Not on websites, not in my email, not on facebook, nowhere. Never.
Why is it that advertisers can’t behave? They keep losing customers. The only reason not more people are blocking them is that people lack the technical knowledge to install these kind of plug-ins. Every friend and relative who I’ve helped doing this was ever so greatful for the relief it brought to their eyes and their entire internet experience.
Reply from Ben Williams:
Really appreciate that — especially that you’ve been sharing the ABP experience with others!
Dumpty · 2015-04-21 18:44 · #
Congratulations ABP. :)
Reply from Ben Williams:
Thanks!
JOSE LUIS HUERTA · 2015-04-21 20:11 · #
very good job
Blocker-Ede · 2015-04-21 21:46 · #
Congrats and thanks for standing up in court! :)
Reply from Ben Williams:
Thanks, really grateful for your support.
Foobarbaz · 2015-04-21 22:19 · #
Congrats to sanity!
Reply from Ben Williams:
Cheers to that!
Someone · 2015-04-21 22:29 · #
Are the details of the ruling available (DE is ok!) – it would be interesting to see what the basis of the ruling is.
Also, does this judgement affect users elsewhere within the EU?
Reply from Ben Williams:
There are a few articles out there that go into details about the case (http://venturebeat.com/2015/04/21/german-court-rules-adblock-plus-is-legal/). There will likely be other facts in the coming weeks, but the important thing is we won!
To your second question, well, we hope it sets a positive example :) but the court was just for Germany.
James Edward Lewis II · 2015-04-21 23:56 · #
“regional court in Hamburg”
I think that implies that it is only controlling in the Hamburg area, although even if it is not appealed to a higher court, the ruling could well be cited in other courts in similar cases.
(I don’t know how much weight case law carries in Europe, only that it is less than in the United States, where I live, but I still think that the ruling would be cited elsewhere, even if it does not by itself settle the issue anywhere outside Hamburg.)
By the way, I tried searching Google in both English and German for the ruling itself and found nothing, and then looking at the website for the regional court in Hamburg, and my best guess is that there is an 8-week delay before rulings are published (the latest ones are from 24 February 2015); also, searching for “Eyeo” pulled up nothing: http://www.rechtsprechung-hamburg.de/jportal/portal/page/bshaprod.psml?form=bsIntExpertSearch&neuesuche=Neu&st=ent&sm=gercont&desc=text&query=+&desc=norm&query=+&desc=court&query=FG+Hamburg
Reply from Ben Williams:
Thanks. The ruling was very straightforward, and was sent to us in an email (literally, one line). The specific reasons the court sided with or against each argument will be released at a later date (key difference in German law), but again, the crucial point is that the case was dismissed.
If you’re a German reader, here’s an article from a reporter who attended the hearing: http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Landgericht-Hamburg-Adblock-Plus-darf-weiter-blocken-2616148.html
abdu · 2015-04-22 03:40 · #
adblockplus! you did not stand in court just for yourselves. you stood in court for all of us, and i could never thank you enough for everything you’ve done for us, unlike some people i didn’t find adblock by accident or had somebody tell me about it, i searched ad blocker on google after i was tottaly fed up with pop ups and flashing ads and misleading buttons, i thought maybe there has to be a softwar that i could instal to get rid of the ads when i instaled the adblock ad on i couldn’t believe it , it felt like the first day i used internet. thank you so much for your work please keep it up
Reply from Ben Williams:
Thanks, you’re making me (or us) blush :) But in all seriousness, it’s decisions like the one you made — to block all that blinking BS and take back control — that send the strongest message.
mcdavis · 2015-04-22 04:06 · #
I wonder how many members of the Deutsches judiciary became ABP users as a result of this case. Hopefully several. :)
Reply from Ben Williams:
… no comment ;)
Xitroen · 2015-04-22 05:09 · #
Thanks for the very good job you do for us. Soon I will donate some money to you to help. Not much because I have little income. But I will participate. Now I would like you to explain me how to block adds on my phone it start to be really ennoying. I tried to install adblock but I lost the WiFi and I had to reset the phone and I lost most of my contacts… Anyway it’s not important… It’s my problem. Congratulations for this magnificent victory. All the best from Thailand.
Reply from Ben Williams:
Thanks, we’re very grateful. Regarding your phone, if you use Android you can just download Adblock Plus for Android. You can also install ABP on Firefox mobile or it comes out of the box on the Maxthon browser.
For additional news on mobile devices … stay tuned.
Alhaitham · 2015-04-22 07:15 · #
Thanks for the effort and congrats to all of us
Reply from Ben Williams:
Indeed.
Acustic · 2015-04-22 09:00 · #
Now, every adblock user should sue those two companies for trying to forcefully display ads against our will.
Reply from Ben Williams:
Listening … intrigued ;)
Vincent · 2015-04-22 11:41 · #
Apparently, the plaintiffs have not heard of the Streisand effect: when you try to remove something from the internet, even more people will share and use it. I hope it will be the case for ABP.
It seems that the only purpose of advertiser’s job is to annoy people. I’m not even sure that’s efficient.
I remember one time, I had to (I hope you sat down before reading this) clean a plate with my cursor before I could watch a video. 2 days ago, I desactivated ABP on a french newspaper site and there was a 20 second video ad before seeing a picture. Yes, a PICTURE.
I hope this kind of practice die fast and the companies practicing it go bankrupt. Ethical respectful advertising is what must be done.
Reply from Ben Williams:
Thanks, Vincent. I think you’re on to something with ethical and respectful ads! Maybe advertisers should listen?
Varma Vegesna · 2015-04-22 12:42 · #
Congratulations for winning the lawsuit.I fell in love with adblockplus from my first usage.
Its an amazing app. Keep up the good work. Long live Adblock plus :)
Reply from Ben Williams:
That’s awesome to hear, thanks!
Steve Timmins · 2015-04-22 16:13 · #
Congratulation in winning the court case. Pesky adverts will soon be a thing of the past. Therefore, we are now recommending your product to our visitors on our websites.
Best regards
Steve Timmins
THE ! GROOVY ! GROUP ! ®
www.thegroovygroup.com
Reply from Ben Williams:
Thanks, Steve, really appreciate the recommendation!
Kevin · 2015-04-22 16:27 · #
Well done Ben and the team. This is excellent.
What I really don’t understand is how these publishers thought this would end up. They were the ones who started to use animations, flickering, fake Windows with “Congratulations you’ve won” and more annoying, the damn popups. If they didn’t become too intrusive, this wouldn’t be a problem.
I just hope the European courts continue this common sense.
Reply from Ben Williams:
Thanks, Kevin, good to know that you’ve got our back!
Simon · 2015-04-22 17:07 · #
Excellent News. I expect even more people will now install the Addon.
Reply from Ben Williams:
Here’s hoping! Thanks for the comment!
E-TARD The LifeCaster · 2015-04-22 18:23 · #
Big Win for users :D
Thanks for doing it.
celio vaz · 2015-04-22 18:28 · #
many websites today force you to disable adblock to navigate within their server. well, it´s their right, but I don´t pause my adblock easily. normally, when I required to UNINSTALL (yes, they ask you to uninstall, not pause), I simply put that site into my blacklist. Websites with such requirement generally have so many ads and traps that you won´t be able to get what you want anyway, so they can f*ck theirselves!
congrats to abp for this major win. may the force still be with you. abp makes my browser faster, and also helps with tracking traps, my favorite chrome extension!
Uzair · 2015-04-22 21:08 · #
Congratulations! You guys are doing hell of work to make browsing clean and peaceful!
JP · 2015-04-22 22:33 · #
congratulations
have used your software for ages now and would have a poor Internet experience without it
TFM · 2015-04-22 23:03 · #
Advertising pays the bills and enables the worldwide distribution of quality, journalism-based content to the world.
If everyone installed AB software, pay-walls would spring up left, right and centre – pricing the poor out of access to qualified / balanced opinions.
I’m right behind your mission to improve the quality of advertising, but I disagree with the business model in play and your white-listing of certain companies in exchange for a revenue share.
Just my coupla pence!
Congrats · 2015-04-23 00:59 · #
Congrats, I love adblock! If they won this case, next it would be removing our spam folders.