Seeking the advice and input of ATS members on an important issue...

OMG... I didnt expect this to come so soon. The beginning of the end is near, count me in.

reply to post by Doc Holiday


I will sign a petition for you when needed. My Idea is this. Why not become CLUB ATS ??? Each member pays a fee of say $40.00 per yr to use the services of CLUB ATS and perhaps eliminating advertising revenue? Rules of conduct would be the same and a violation of the rules of conduct would result in Club ATS membership with no refund. No advertisers, no cookies????

cant have a world without ATS! Im in.
2nd line says you had me at hello.

Originally posted by SkepticOverlord
The essence of his proposal is to require websites such as ATS to first ask your permission before using any third-party cookies. This would mean that sites like us could not display third-party ad networks until you opt-in with your approval. The end result would be a significant, if not complete, drop in the only source of revenue for small independent websites.

Hold on, I don't accept third party cookies and ATS still shows ads. (something wrong with my browser???)

I personally consider opt-in as the best solution since most people are not accustomed with their browser setting, it makes them more aware of what cookies can do.

Instead, maybe you should ask ATSers to opt in, if the legislation is passed. I'll of course opt in, for ATS website only.

How do these ads work anyway? Is 3rd party cookies statistic a requirement for the payment of the ads display?

Flash zombie cookies, AddThis, and the danger of third party widgets

Third-party advertisers are the worst offenders found by UC Berkley researchers. Also named is Clearspring, makers of the popular AddThis widget. The AddThis button (pictured) makes it easy for publishers to add many social bookmarking links to any page or post. Apparently it also was found to resintate deleted cookies from AOL.com, Answers.com, and Mapquest.com.

This is of course the worst case, most cookies are fine. And if ATS and other small websites need them that badly, I guess I can support the move. You can count me in.

Originally posted by Soylent Green Is People
Yes -- but given the choice, most people would choose "not" to allow 3rd party cookies, thus effectively killing much of the adverstisements that keeps sites such as ATS free to use.

Most people would choose to opt out without even understanding what they are doing, only because it's the "easy" thing to do.

Yes -- it's a choice, but most internet users probably don't understand that choice. People could choose right now to not allow 3rd party cookies, but that would be disastrous for the advertising revenue of sites like ATS.

You sounds like the government. Don't give them the choice, they don't know what they gonna do with it. Ha, ha.

reply to post by LordBucket


I think that you may not seeing the implications here. While you may understand the nature of cookies, many people don't. By providing restrictions as suggested by the "pre-bill", the impact is huge upon smaller, non mainstream websites(defined by the classical media giants pre-internet).

In the internet game, dissaugement of media outlets can be as simple as implicating privacy issues. Such a subtle accusation, generally made, reinforces the "validity" of the media giants and discourages web participation on sites such as ours.

The legislation that is proposed is an inherent divide and conquer technique and disrupts venues that are encouraging candid discussion on our society.

I can't abide that. There is an awesome discussion implied here regarding indirect manipulations and I for one would rather see legislation meant to encourage expression rather than reinforce major media giants and their financial influence on 'the rules of society'.

We have to win this one.

This needs to be attacked on multiple levels by preparation and we need to be LOUD about this!


- Petition and lobby against the bill itself.

- Try to secure ATS servers off-shores/out of US jurisdiction, like Pirate Bay!

- Keep the body of ATS posters informed and make sure we are able to stay in contact even in the event that this website is bought out/etc.


An ounce of preparation now.... Saves us a hell of a lot of trouble later!

[edit on 25-11-2009 by bsbray11]

The internet as we know it today was built on principles of free exchange of information. Any attempts to take this away from the people Should and MUST be opposed.

I'm not the biggest poster on ATS, but you have my full support for whatever needs to be done.

YES;
Lets start this up ASAP;
We'll make it go Viral;
Make some Youtube Videos and Banners and we could all just start posting it everywhere;
like myspace, twitter, youtube, forums, facebook; Veoh, metacafe, break.com, just everywhere you could possibly put a video or a banner ;

You should also make this a sticky thread on all sub-forums on here so every member of ATS will see it


And the government is so retarded;
instead of making new retarded laws why dont they just tell people to download a better antivirus?

If the guy doesnt know how to turn off cookies or whatever in his browser and has to make a law banning them then maybe he shouldnt even be working in the government or let alone use the internet....
Maybe someone should tell him to click on settings then click "disable cookies" or maybe someone should tell him to download a program that disables ad's in his browser; instead of making a BS law trying to take our freedoms away!!!!

What makes him qualified to make laws about banning things on the internet?
Has he gone to school for Information Technology; I bet he doesnt even know basic HTML!!!!
Its total BS!!!!!!

I bet he has been bribed by some corporation or NWO BS!!!
He should go to prison for Treason of the constitution

THIS IS AN OUTRAGE!!!!!!!!

[edit on 25-11-2009 by DjSharperimage]

Youse wants me to break some knees or sumthin? Count me in! Fight this any way you can and even without ads I would find ATS a site worth paying for.

The way this gov't works,we are always GIVING something in order to be able to keep what is rightfully already ours..then they act as if they are doing us the favor.
IE;Rights,taxes,freedoms,blah blah blah

Of course we would sign,what choice do we have.

My anger and bitterness is not against ATS .. that,I hope is clear,but I am getting beyond disgust.

I do not post on here very much. However I am signed on every day..

Sure I will sign a petition..

Damn the man, exit vietnam!

Anyone with a shred of sense would be on board

I am lucky I have a few shaving left...

I will support whatever ATS deems necessary to protect it's interests. If we are silenced the world loses its best one hope for true freedom. This should be a no-brainer and anybody here that doesn't support this suggestion is a troll. I'm in- let's do this.
Damned communists.

where do i sign?

also, opt-in can be made mandatory... for example, already registered users would have an option - agree to see ads, or they won't be able to log in. such question can be displayed once when they come back to the site, and answer stored. same for new users - opt-in or you can't register. just put it in terms of service and it should be fine. damn, even in case of random lurkers without accounts, site can display an agreement that if user pushes 'enter site', he agrees to have cookies stored in his browser and to see ads. far from perfect solution, which would be petition doing it's job, but well... still an option to consider.

count me in the loss of the freedom of speech and expression is only the beginning .no more downloading MEDIA music ,movies and the list will be growing ,and our right to privacy is also toast .the man is a control freak that is highly unstable mentally if it does not fill his pockets with gold then we are all criminals by his standard .considering that every call we make is monitored even the net traffic is monitored by the man. type in the conspiracy of jfk if you have kapersky installed and up will pop a little note from the fbi saying you are being hacked by them and that is here on ats, especially if you add anything to the page .
FREEDOM IS DEAD .

Originally posted by SkepticOverlord

The free and independent Internet is at risk, from an unexpected threat positioned as protection of "online privacy," which may end up as no more than giving unfair advantage to major media corporations. U.S. Congressman Rich Boucher (southwestern Virginia) is spearheading legislation couched as privacy protection which may result in the elimination of thousands upon thousands of small independent websites, including AboveTopSecret.com.

OH NO THEY DIDN'T!!!!!! This is outrageous!!!!! WTF???? Whatever happened to our freedoms? What's next???? I am outraged!!!!!

HOLD IT. Hold it. Hold it, holdit!
Everybody is freaking out over this and forgetting:
1.) Who they are. (As if they new anyway.)
2.) Where they are. (And what they agreed to when they became members.)
3.) What we are capable of. (and how dangerous it is.)

Before anybody DOES anything. STOP! Stop now. I'll be back in a minute to tell you why but this has to be posted now.


DO NOT ACT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sure. Be glad to help.

I'm in, doesn't matter if this congressman isn't from my country at all. what i'm thinking is, if this can happen to you guys, in your country then its gonna set a precedent for other countries to follow. and this internet thing don't respect no borders (only firewalls, but there's ways 'round them). i'm in, but i guess i already said that.

I'm in, and ready to do whatever must be done to keep ATS alive and well. I finally got around to making myself an account almost a month ago, but I've been browsing these forums for years.