zlacker

Imgur offers services to UK-based customers, allowing them to view and host images in return for viewing ads. You used to be able to optionally pay for a pro account, though the vast majority of users use the free ad-supported option, and that is now the only option.

Megaupload's business model was pretty much exactly the same - but with "any" file instead of just images.

If the UK version didn't have ads, and UK-focused ads at that, they might have a point - but I don't see any "false equivalence" here.

And playing games about "indirectly" monetizing people (through ads or similar) doesn't mean they aren't /customers/. Otherwise every consumer law would be trivially worked around.

>>kimixa+(OP)
Not showing ads and not collecting data are two completely different things. If I could choose between annoying banner ads and being tracked and followed and linked and spied on, I’d take ads every time. I’ve never paid for a freemium where they just stopped all of their creepy telemetry as soon as I started paying them.