Yahoo cutting off email services for users with ad blockers

It seems Yahoo is becoming more sensitive to ad blockers.  They are running a new "test" program which restricts access to their free email service if you are running an ad blocker.  At the moment, this only applies to a limited number of Yahoo mail accounts for people in the US.  If you are one of those affected, you are asked to disable the ad blocker in order to gain access to your Yahoo mail account.

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This approach is becoming more common on sites that rely on advertising revenue, the Washington Post is another example, and even Outlook.com complains if you are using ad blockers, though Microsoft has not yet moved to prevent access to their free email service.  I suspect it is only a matter of time before "free" services on the net become more restrictive, and prohibit ad blockers entirely.  At that point it may become a small war between the ad blockers and websites, with the ad blockers becoming more sophisticated in their methods.  Will it become a choice between paying not to see ads, or paying ad blockers for their improved methods?  The free wheeling internet of the past may be coming to an end.

You can read more on the story at Endgadget.

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