Internet ads are a plague. They flash, they follow down the page, they make noise, and worst of all, they violate your privacy. When I look up a part for my car and see auto part ads for three days, that is ####ing creepy. I don't want to be tracked across the Internet.

So, I block ads. No, that is not "stealing". It's a modification to my own computer, which is my property. For example, right now, Quora appears to me as light text on a dark background, because I have a "dark" browser plugin that modifies how web pages display on my machine. That is not "stealing", and nor is modifying the content shown on my machine, on my browser, to not show ads. It's my machine, and I'll modify it in any way I might care to, thank you very much.

If a site asks nicely for a whitelisting, and pledges to use static, non-moving, non-video and sound, non-tracking ads, I generally will be nice and do so. If an ad ever shouts, moves, or shows signs of tracking, then back on the blacklist, this time for good. If they use an "ad blocker blocker", I'll just use Greasemonkey to disable it and access the site as normal. None of that is stealing. Reading things put on a public website can by no reasonable definition of that word fit as theft.

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