UP AGAINST THE WALL, MOTHERFUCKERS!!! You... and you... and you... aw, hell... ALL OF YOU!!!!!

[Ms. Toad]

37. Antipiracy laws are different from breaching the TOS.

TOS on a website are really just a contract. If you don't comply, the owner can haul you into court in a civil case - and the owner would need to establish that the contract entered into by the website visitor (and it takes more than most website owners do in order to create a binding contract). DU does with respect to its members, but not with respect to visitors - for example. Members have to accept certain terms in order to use the website. Visitors, on the other hand, have to go hunt for the TOS and never actively agree to abide by them. Generally that is enough to keep courts from finding a contract exists.Adblocking is more of an ethical issue, or a TOS issue, than one of piracy. If the TOS prohibits members from using adblocking software, the owner could boot them from the site.

There is an ethical debate about the relationship between ads and content on places like Spotify - for example - where Spotify pays the content owners a royalty for their works which they can legally share with their members, and expects to earn enough money from the ads to pay those royalties. Some people believe the price for the "free" music is to view the ads, and that it is unethical to listen to the music while blocking the ads that pay for it. (And - of course if the Spotify TOS prohibit ad blocking, because the owners have guaranteed their advertisers so many views, they can kick you off the service if you are using adblocking software.)

There are things you can do on a website which might be crimes (none of which have anything to do with the TOS)

• copying and selling someone's work (images or text, for example) of a certain value can fall under the criminal copyright infringement provisions (but that has nothing to do with TOS).
  
• accessing copyright protected content via a website designed to circumvent protective measures taken by the owner (this area of law is not settled yet)
  
• Intentionally damaging someone else's computer via the internet or using access to the computer to commit fraud or extortion (this is the law Lori Drew was charged under - with the conviction vacated for essentially the reasons I noted above - TOS is a contract, and a breach of contract isn't criminal). The later attempts to criminalize behavior like hers had to do with criminalizing cyberbullying, not with making a violation of TOS a criminal offense. In other words, violating TOS still wouldn't be a criminal offense - but cyberbullying might be.