It doesn't work like that in the physical world though. Once you've bought a book the author can't stipulate that you're only allowed to read it with a video ad in the sidebar, by drinking a can of coke before each chapter, or by giving them permission to sniff through your family's medical history. They can't keep you from loaning it out for other people to read, even thousands of other people. They can't stop you from reading it in a certain room or with your favorite music playing. You can even have an LLM transcribe or summarize it for you for personal use (not everyone has those automatic page flipping machines, but hypothetically).
The reason people are up in arms is because rights they previously enjoyed are being stripped away by the current platforms. The content owner's rights aren't as valid as my own in the current world; they trump mine 10 to 1. If I "buy" a song and the content owner decides that my country is politically unfriendly, they just delete it and don't refund me. If I request to view their content and they start by wasting my bandwidth sending me an ad I haven't consented to, how can I even "not engage"? The damage is done, and there's no recourse.
The reason people are up in arms is because rights they previously enjoyed are being stripped away by the current platforms. The content owner's rights aren't as valid as my own in the current world; they trump mine 10 to 1. If I "buy" a song and the content owner decides that my country is politically unfriendly, they just delete it and don't refund me. If I request to view their content and they start by wasting my bandwidth sending me an ad I haven't consented to, how can I even "not engage"? The damage is done, and there's no recourse.