I’ve been using a new Web browser, Maxthon, for a few months now and recently decided to look up the reviews to see what other people think.

I happened upon a review of a few non-Internet Explorer browsers at ExtremeTech. While discussing Maxthon’s ad-blocking features, the review’s author, Jason Cross, makes an odd assertion:

The browser includes all kinds of different “blocking” features to help you display other people’s pages the way you want them. Not only can you block popups, but also floating ads, pop-under ads, and whatever ActiveX controls you want to add to the black list. You can even kill standard web ads. The ethics of doing this kind of thing are sketchy at best — you may not like ads, but they’re necessary to keep professionally produced web content available for free. There’s a line between “reasonable advertising” and “totally obnoxious web page,” though, and Maxthon has the tools to help you enforce that if you desire.

Blocking ads is “sketchy ethics”? I guess, according to this logic, that you’re duty-bound to read the classifieds in the Sunday paper. Planning to hit the john during a TV commercial? That a venial sin, at least, and it’ll cost you three Hail Marys. Don’t even think about switching the radio station when an ad comes on. And didn’t you know that you are morally obliged to not only look at each and every single ad in the glossy magazines, but to test out the free sample colognes too!

This is a self-serving bit of ethical preening if I’ve ever seen one. Who’s to decide what’s “reasonable advertising” and “totally obnoxious web page,” after all?

Gee, I wonder which category ExtremeTech falls into. I wouldn’t know. I’ve got my ad-blocking feature on.