French ISP has an ad-blocking router
Free, a French ISP, has rolled out an update to its routers that turns ad blocking on by default.
Free, a French ISP, has rolled out an update to its routers that turns ad blocking on by default.
Ars Technica reports that, while the beta update should ensure that every device connected to the router has ads blocked, its effectiveness so far has been mixed.
It's an interesting play by Free, which presumably feels little impact itself from the move, although it could have troubles advertising online in the future. Perhaps it'll write itself into an exclusion list.
Locating local internet providers
In the mean time, to say that the advertising and display media industry are unhappy about this move of consumer activism would be a mild understatement as widespread use would decimate its revenue model. Free, ad-supported content (like what you see on CNET) would likely have to move to a subscription model.