I believe this is precisely what spotify would like you to do. Last time I tried they client, they paused ad playback when I muted my speakers. Never again!

Just like ads on your TV you can "leave the room" by closing the page.

Whats with this entitlement that you shouldn't have to endure ads but also get to have the content too?

I said "leave the room during the commercials". If what you meant is that I can't leave ONLY during the commercials, then this comes across as extremely user-hostile approach.

Should a user be forced to NOT mute the commercials? I'm clearly in the "NO" camp on this issue.

Can you fast forward through commercials? All you can do is mute the TV and/or leave the room. Even in systems like TiVO where you can rewind and fast forward they still mostly block you from fast forwarding commercials... No different than circumventing adblocks, but nobody complains about that.

Hell even TV networks track you. They know how many viewers are on certain shows and that. That's how they're able to garner high prices too.

Advertising is just something we always had to deal with. You don't have to watch commercials. You do that by not going to channels that have commercials, or using different services that you pay to not see commercials.

My point is, you are entitled to not be tracked. You're entitled to not have to see ads. But you are _NOT_ entitled to the content without those if the website decides the trade-off of you getting that content for free is by enduring those ads.

Close your window. Go somewhere else for content if the site you're visiting displays ads.

I'm sorry, but this is a flawed analogy. When you leave the room for the duration of the commercial, you are essentially skipping/ignoring/blocking it. This is the same as hiding an ad on a webpage in that you are taking steps (pun intended) to avoid seeing/hearing the advertisement.

Presumably you are paying for your TV service, so why the fuck should you be watching ads as well?

You are paying for the service to provide you with TV. You are not paying the networks. Just like by paying for internet you're not paying Google.

believe it or not, some people genuinely are sociopathic enough to suggest that yes, you should; and by not doing so you are somehow stealing from them.

The inflated sense of entitlement in surveillance capitalists is palpable.