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Ad Fraud Scheme Drained Users’ Batteries By Running Hidden Video Ads In Android

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Re: Ad Fraud Scheme Drained Users’ Batteries By Running Hidden Video Ads In Android

#21

Post by sk0g »

distant_hat wrote: post #18
YeahSureWhyNot wrote: post #2

I used to date a girl who had a Galaxy S8 from sprint and that phone had most ridiculous ads like online casino ads, everywhere, even on lock screen.

A few years back Lockscreen was identified as one of the most underutilized real estate on the mobile phone. So a lot of phone companies started selling it to the highest bidder. While Samsung shouldn't be needing it, a lot of the lower end Chinese companies make razor thin margins on the phones, even if a company offered $1-3 for pre-installing an always running app that would show ads to users, they'd happily take…

I doubt it's the Samsung launcher/ lock screen showing ads though. I remember a particular lock screen I tried out that was great. Functional, beautiful... Except, you know, when it showed an ad on half the lock screen.

Yeah, fuck that.

But a less tech savvy person might just go "well this is fine, I guess that's just how it is", and live with it.

Re: Ad Fraud Scheme Drained Users’ Batteries By Running Hidden Video Ads In Android

#22

Post by darkpuma »

zamalek wrote: post #4

It's crazy that ads have reached through point where impressions-without-impressions are lucrative. If I was the type of scumbag to pay large amounts of money for data hungry ads, I'd be furious. But, they don't care? Are ads now just a sunk cost with no ROI analysis? Is it like a gym membership?

Marketing/advertising professionals are in the business of persuading businesses of their efficacy as much, if not morose, than they're in the business of persuading consumers to patronize those businesses.

Smooth talking and flashy slide decks about how great their advertising service is can blind business owners to poor results.

Re: Ad Fraud Scheme Drained Users’ Batteries By Running Hidden Video Ads In Android

#23

Post by kbenson »

AngryData wrote: post #20

Advertising is a scourge upon society.

> Advertising is a scourge upon society.

I understand where you're coming from, but that's painting with a pretty broad brush. Advertising covers everything from the signage stating the name of the mom-and-pop shop on the corner (which is why cities often limit the size of logos/names on building) to billboards on the side of the freeway. It covers movie trailers I seek out ant watch to see what's coming soon to commercials interspaced within a video that interrupts the flow.

I hate some of those, but i actively like, or at least value the utility of some of the others. A specific type of advertising has grown outsized that last couple of decades, and it's causing real problems. But let's not paint with too broad a brush just because we're fed up. That's how stupid laws get passed.

Re: Ad Fraud Scheme Drained Users’ Batteries By Running Hidden Video Ads In Android

#24

Post by haser_au »

YeahSureWhyNot wrote: post #2

I used to date a girl who had a Galaxy S8 from sprint and that phone had most ridiculous ads like online casino ads, everywhere, even on lock screen.

The 'Peel Smart Remote' app came pre-installed on my old Samsung S6, and it did the same thing. Lock screen ads and everything.

https://fossbytes.com/peel-remote-use-remove-smart-remote/

https://www.androidpolice.com/2017/03/29/peel-remote-app-ups...

Re: Ad Fraud Scheme Drained Users’ Batteries By Running Hidden Video Ads In Android

#27

Post by baybal2 »

kbenson wrote: post #23
AngryData wrote: post #20

Advertising is a scourge upon society.

> Advertising is a scourge upon society. I understand where you're coming from, but that's painting with a pretty broad brush. Advertising covers everything from the signage stating the name of the mom-and-pop shop on the corner (which is why cities often limit the size of logos/names on building) to billboards on the side of the freeway. It covers movie trailers I seek out ant watch to see what's coming soon to comm…

I am more on the position that advertising as a function of product promotion is dying, in all, but the most extreme overkill forms.

Re: Ad Fraud Scheme Drained Users’ Batteries By Running Hidden Video Ads In Android

#28

Post by dschuetz »

Why is that even possible to hijack an active ad feed? It implicates that in-app ads are high risk security-wise. I just can't believe how broken the infrastructure for web services actually is, and why the companies doing and serving ads space only act when revenue is at stake. This and many other things are getting out of hand.

Re: Ad Fraud Scheme Drained Users’ Batteries By Running Hidden Video Ads In Android

#29

Post by occamschainsaw »

dang wrote: post #12
randomfinn wrote: post #3

The link is blog spam, original article is at https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/craigsilverman/in-banne...

Thanks. Url changed from https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/22/18276542/scam-hidden-vide... . Submitters: please read and follow the guidelines. They include: " Please submit the original source. If a post reports on something found on another site, submit the latter. " https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Sorry about that, will keep it in mind for future posts.

Re: Ad Fraud Scheme Drained Users’ Batteries By Running Hidden Video Ads In Android

#30

Post by baybal2 »

hrdwdmrbl wrote: post #26

My first thought is that this is really Google's problem to fix. How is it even possible to do this on Android? Or is this also possible on iOS?

How? Google's last secret bastion of defence was a common opengl driver glitch that was checked from well hidden webgl shader code. Even that was said to be cracked in no time.

Simple explanation is that people on the other side of adfraud war are the ones getting incomparably bigger money than any ad-fraud specialist hired by ad companies (and they both hire pretty much the same people...)

Imagine, the more Google cracks down on it, the bigger is the monetary reward for cracking the protection. I remember reading mid-naughties era Russian computer journals with pics of "advertising specialists" racing off their new Ferraris in Moscow right at the moment it was said a big crackdown was going on.

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