I don't have access to everyone's computers that I know. I tell them to install and use an adblocker and sometimes they do, sometimes they don't, up to them. Ironic that you say you don't want to experiment on people but then seek to patronize their choices by doing things for "their benefit." People can do what they wish, once the information has been passed on to them.
I don't randomly grab people's phones and install things on them though. I'm talking about the computers I share with coworkers, friends and family. I use the computers too. Since I don't tolerate ads, they won't need to either.
So I don't see it as patronizing them at all. I see it as leadership. I'm putting my reputation on the line. People trust me with all this computer stuff, if I screw things up they won't trust me anymore. So I make it my responsibility to ensure it works and that they will like it, even though they "don't care". For example, on these shared computers I don't turn it up to the point it breaks pages. I know how to deal with those breakages, they don't. So I ensure they never have to.
If you're sharing the computers then that's a different story. We don't share our computers so we don't all have ad blockers on them. Mine does of course and I add them to my family's but if they switch browsers or reset / upgrade their PC, I'm not often there to redo the install. So I'll tell them to do it but they don't always do it. So I give up, if they know about ad blockers but don't care enough to reinstall them, that's on them at that point. Which leads me to my point that people don't generally care.
