In a column for EUObserver, Nick Wallace and Daniel Castro warn that an amendment in the European Parliament's draft of the ePrivacy Regulation "would prohibit online businesses from simply blocking users who use ad-blockers." The amendment in question, they point out, "would require online services using targeted advertising to offer users 'other fair and reasonable options' to access their services without these ads." If such a paradigm were to go into effect, they argue, online businesses would either lose revenue or users would see more non-relevant ads, which "would create a worse user experience and possibly drive people away, again cutting into revenue." A third avenue would be to have users pay for ad-free services, but history shows, they state, that users often will not pay for ad-free services. All three alternatives would ultimately harm the EU's internet economy, they claim, without protecting user privacy.
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