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AdNauseam Banned from the Google Web Store

adnauseam.io

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Re: AdNauseam Banned from the Google Web Store

#151

Post by openasocket »

elorant wrote: post #33
xwowsersx wrote: post #4

Can someone explain what the point of silently clicking the ads is? Why not just block them? Does clicking the ads somehow aid in blocking or is it a way of fighting back against perceived abuses by advertisers?

Advertising networks create profiles of users based on online activity including searches. It's called profiling. The ads you see are relevant to your interests as it is described in your profile. By randomly clicking on ads you render the profile irrelevant.

But what if you clicked on no ads at all? Doesn't that make the profile equally irrelevant?

Re: AdNauseam Banned from the Google Web Store

#152

Post by ChuckMcM »

Spoom wrote: post #29

At the risk of downvotes: Is anyone really surprised? AdNauseam is silently clicking ads. This directly costs Google money . Google happens to control the extension web store for their own browser. Removing it from the store really isn't that bad. Uninstalling it from existing browsers as malware? A little more malicious, but I would still consider it self defense. There is even a method to install it directly[1] whi…

No (it doesn't surprise me). I figured it would be banned at some point, it is essentially click fraud but with a (noble?) purpose. And once it reaches enough critical mass to be annoying (and by annoying I mean interfering with other analytics) it would be dealt with.

I certainly resonate with the issue of advertising getting ridiculous (and love Troy Hunt's response) but don't begrudge Google their right to not help people mess with their income stream.

Re: AdNauseam Banned from the Google Web Store

#153

Post by hedora »

colept wrote: post #116
tetrep wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The idea is to mess with advertisers' metrics. If people using ad blockers are peaceful protesters, AdNauseam is trying to riot.

That's like harming the Pope to get back at God. AdNauseum doesn't hurt advertising networks, it hurts publishers. When they get banned for click fraud, the network keeps the money.

If google bans legitimate publishers, then the advertisers move elsewhere.

Also, increased click fraud on tracking ads lowers their attractiveness, nudging ad revenue toward sites that serve display ads targeted to their content.

This helps funnel money to sites that produce high quality content and away from low quality sites that happen to attract users that view high quality content elsewhere.

Re: AdNauseam Banned from the Google Web Store

#154

Post by damieng »

ominous wrote: post #107
waxim wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google HAS to block this and prevent it from ever being run if it can, its click fraud plain and simple and they've been stung too many times with huge bills for fraud it could have prevented and didn't.

Everything that is GETtable risks being GET. Why would Google serve an ad to someone who might click it without the intention of following through with the ad? Because Google chooses who to show the ad to. So it is really Google's fault. Google created click fraud. See how ridiculous this is?

Just issuing a GET doesn't cause a somebody to be charged.

It's a process involving delivering specific tracking cookie along with the ad that should you end up clicking through to the intended destination gets tracked through either more cookies or tags in the URL.

Re: AdNauseam Banned from the Google Web Store

#155

Post by wildrhythms »

m-p-3 wrote: post #50
iUsedToCode wrote: post #8

This is why i don't use Chrome. Enough of my life is in google's hands. I believe they are already too big. I wish for a more open smartphone ecosystem and better tools for privacy.

I use Chrome, but I don't exclusively rely on it. I always have both Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox installed on my systems/devices.

Can I ask if there's a good way to keep bookmarks synced between Chrome and Firefox? I know about Xmarks[1] but I'm just curious if there's another way that doesn't involve storing my bookmarks on a third party.

[1] https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/xmarks-sync/

Re: AdNauseam Banned from the Google Web Store

#157

Post by rattray »

Spoom wrote: post #29

At the risk of downvotes: Is anyone really surprised? AdNauseam is silently clicking ads. This directly costs Google money . Google happens to control the extension web store for their own browser. Removing it from the store really isn't that bad. Uninstalling it from existing browsers as malware? A little more malicious, but I would still consider it self defense. There is even a method to install it directly[1] whi…

I'm not surprised either, and I might do the same if I were Google, but "Tyrannical" does feel like an appropriate word given they are using their multi-industry monopolies to crush threats.

Re: AdNauseam Banned from the Google Web Store

#158

Post by vkou »

kuschku wrote: post #146
downandout wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You would be banned - very fast. You would never actually receive the money since Adsense pays out on a two month delay. They are very good at identifying this type of activity and the webmaster is the one that pays the price.

Well, if that’s true, within of months, half of websites will have to search for a new ad network, and we might get a chance at less intrusive ads.

... Or, more likely, they will switch to an ad network with more obnoxious, or dangerous ads. Google, Microsoft, and their ilk are a fair bit better as ad networks then some of the less scrupulous players.

Yes, the large networks occasionally serve dangerous ads. But by far and large, they have better standards then most of the fly-by-night ad networks.

Re: AdNauseam Banned from the Google Web Store

#159

Post by ben0x539 »

morley wrote: post #82
ben0x539 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People should still be giving Google shit for decisions like that, even if they're not surprised.

Why does Google deserve the shit for stopping people from taking money from them? I wouldn't think to give a department store shit for pressing charges against someone who smashed up a bunch of merchandise, whether or not the act was politically motivated.

I feel like we could come up with an analogy that captures more of the nuance of the issue. How'd we feel about it if Windows went around and uninstalled non-Microsoft-Office word processors, to stop competing companies taking money from the Office division?

Sure, Google wants to make money on ads and they're under no obligation to let people use their infrastructure to undermine that goal. But likewise, the people who get fucked over by Google compromising the Chrome ecosystem to defend their ad income are under no obligation to be particularly enthusiastic about it.

Re: AdNauseam Banned from the Google Web Store

#160

Post by andylei »

hedora wrote: post #87
menegattig wrote: post #7

Few month ago we developed and launched an AI-based AdBlocker (called AdFilter) and also had several problems with Google Chrome Web Store. Almost every week they had a "strange reason" to remove our extension from the Google Chrome Web Store. We had more than 380,000 DAU (Daily Active Users) from 36 countries with all good feedbacks on Google Chrome Web Store, but even so, Google always tried to find a way to get us…

I'm surprised people still use Chrome and not Chromium. Perhaps a few devs in your situation could improve the Chromium installation flow for Windows, etc. Google doesn't have much incentive to make it easy, but third parties (like Debian) do, and do a lot of the heavy lifting on an ongoing basis.

why are you surprised? most people don't care about stuff like this. most people don't use ad nauseum. most people don't even use ad block.
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