WHOA: megapublisher @axelspringer is asking a German court to ban an ad-blocker.
Their claim that should make everyone nervous:
The HTML/ CSS code of websites are protected computer programs.
And influencing they are displayed (e.g by removing ads) violates copyright.
1/
2/ Preventing ad-blocking would be a huge blow to German cybersecurity and privacy.
There are critical security & privacy reasons to influence how a websites code gets displayed.
Like stripping out dangerous code & malvertising.
Or blocking unwanted trackers.
This is why most governments do it on their systems.
3/Defining HTML/CSS as a protected computer program will quickly lead to absurdities touching every corner of the internet.
Just think of the potential infringements:
-Screen readers for the blind
-'Dark mode' bowser extensions
-Displaying snippets of code in a university class
-Inspecting & modifying code in your own browser
-Website translators
3/ What still gives me chills is how many cases surfaced of people killed by cartels... or their family members... getting targeted with Pegasus spyware.
The #PegasusProject found even more potential cases in Mexico.