Live data from Hacker News

Princeton’s Ad-Blocker May Put an End to the Ad-Blocking Arms Race

motherboard.vice.com

101–110 of 356 posts

Re: Princeton’s Ad-Blocker May Put an End to the Ad-Blocking Arms Race

#101

The article puts a significant emphasis on the idea that bulletproof ad-blocking technology, assuming that's what this turns out to be in practice, will work long-term becuase of legal restrictions imposed by the FTC. If Google, Facebook, or other multi-billion dollar entities detect an existential threat arising from this or any other technology, rest assured that the laws will change as quickly as is necessary to k…

Or simply a hardened browser DMCA, with signed write-or-execute JS VM that ensures that integrity of the page as rendered cannot be messed with by some pesky extension.

.. which requires banning all existing browsers, which is something Microsoft, Apple and Google are unlikely to go along with quietly.

Re: Princeton’s Ad-Blocker May Put an End to the Ad-Blocking Arms Race

#103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure Anti-ad-blocking laws are practically enforceable. Even with the ad labeling requirements relaxed, unless it is truly deceptive, a CNN could identify it just as well (or better) than we can.

Already you have restrictive software/firmware running on your computer. Look into Intel ME (Management Engine) a likely backdoor into your computer you have no control over, don't know what it does, and can not disable it. It already helps many DRM applications to restrict what content you can play and how. Legislation to disable adblocking could be reinforced already be implemented into the next generation of Intel…

> It already helps many DRM applications to restrict what content you can play and how.

[citation needed] - I'm aware of the hypervisor capabilties of ME but not aware of it being used for DRM yet?

Re: Princeton’s Ad-Blocker May Put an End to the Ad-Blocking Arms Race

#104
So much wasted development effort. I applaud Princeton and this team though. Ad tech is just a flawed attempt to monetize user data which has alienated users. Online ads are a security and privacy risk. Developers need to stop supporting ad tech completely. Put the effort into more beneficial endeavors. If only ... advertisers and publishers had listened and took UX seriously.

Re: Princeton’s Ad-Blocker May Put an End to the Ad-Blocking Arms Race

#105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can see it now... "Advertisements are a form of free speech. Corporations are people too."

Advertisements are a form of free speech. 6 vs 3 Supreme Court " https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sorrell_v._IMS_Health_Inc . "

cases like these usually depend on who is making money in the event of a decision. business make money off advertisements, therefore it's free speech

Re: Princeton’s Ad-Blocker May Put an End to the Ad-Blocking Arms Race

#107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Advertisements are a form of free speech. 6 vs 3 Supreme Court " https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sorrell_v._IMS_Health_Inc . "

This is the reason why in the USA you will see commercials for medications ("Ask your doctor about XYZ; you know, instead of letting your doctor decide what's best.")

Is it really, so why they don't advertise cigarettes?

Re: Princeton’s Ad-Blocker May Put an End to the Ad-Blocking Arms Race

#108
Corey Doctorow predicted this event in his prescient 2012 article "The coming war on general-purpose computing": http://boingboing.net/2012/01/10/lockdown.html

He's talking about DRM as it applies to downloaded content, but the same argument applies to web advertising.

Re: Princeton’s Ad-Blocker May Put an End to the Ad-Blocking Arms Race

#109

The article puts a significant emphasis on the idea that bulletproof ad-blocking technology, assuming that's what this turns out to be in practice, will work long-term becuase of legal restrictions imposed by the FTC. If Google, Facebook, or other multi-billion dollar entities detect an existential threat arising from this or any other technology, rest assured that the laws will change as quickly as is necessary to k…

I can see it now... "Advertisements are a form of free speech. Corporations are people too."

Advertisements, like any communication, are a form of free speech, but it'd be unprecedented to demand that anyone provide an audience for your speech. You can speak all you like; nobody is obligated to listen.

Re: Princeton’s Ad-Blocker May Put an End to the Ad-Blocking Arms Race

#110
post #97
post #75

Just change the alpha values in the `coverContainer` function in `utils.js` and it actually blocks ads. Patched `utils.js`: https://pastebin.com/YLyN2uJ8

This is probably obvious, but where is that file?

The chrome extension file (.crx) is a zip file (with meta data). Just unzip it and you'll find the files, including the 'utils.js'.
Post reply on HN