> Our attention is ours. It's not currency to pay for services with.

That's a fine stance, just don't use youtube.

A lot of these "moral" arguments for not paying or watching the ads fall apart because they seem ignore that option entirely.

> just don't use youtube

Nah. I think I'll keep using it. After all, it's free.

> Nothing they can do about it.

The article you're commenting on is all about something they're doing about it.

You mean their little anti-adblock scripts? Plenty of "clever" websites have done that before. We'll block their blocker, it's that simple.

https://drhyperion451.github.io/does-uBO-bypass-yt/

Nothing they can do about it. We own the computer their code is running on. We decide if it runs.

Certainly you decide if it runs. I didn't mean to imply otherwise.

However, I imagine the hard part, if it comes to that, will be determining which code is which. Imagine the UI presented in a canvas, updated by a proprietary VM. You can see server connections of course, but their purpose is opaque. Perhaps ad/non-ad content is mixed into the same response. The ad-blockers may make some breakthroughs, but Google's under no obligation to keep it as easy as it is now. I suspect they've barely begun to try.

> However, I imagine the hard part, if it comes to that, will be determining which code is which.

One day someone much smarter than me will invent an AI ad blocker which will do stuff like that automatically. Just imagine it. An AI that automatically filters ads, brands and other forms of noise in real time. It'd even work on audio and video. Hell, it'd work on real life through augmented reality glasses or something. If I can imagine it, then it must be possible.

> Google's under no obligation to keep it as easy as it is now

Actually they kind of are due to accessibility laws. Everything you proposed means rolling back literally every single one of the hard won advances in web accessibility. Everything that enables assistive technology also enables bots, scripts, automated access. I bet they really hate those users because of that.

> I suspect they've barely begun to try.

Yawn. Trillion dollar copyright industry has been playing this exact same cat and mouse game with copyright infringement for literally decades now. You're telling me Google's gonna win this?

Everyone who has any respect for the word "hacker" and what it stands for better hope they give up. There's only one way for them to win and that's by owning our computers. Devices must be literally physically cryptographically unable to run software that hurts their bottom line for them to win.