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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

#161

Post by NeedMoreTea »

Razengan wrote: post #153
AngryData wrote: post #20

Advertising is a scourge upon society.

What if people were directly paid to view adverts? Introduce ad viewing apps where people voluntarily sign up, provide information about themselves, and use attention-tracking etc. to reward them with some money based on how many adverts they watch or surveys they answer. Maybe go further and ban all other forms of advertisement that takes up space anywhere, classifying them as vandalism. Everybody wins (unless this…

lol, no. I think you just invented the black mirror 15 million merits episode.

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

#162

Post by hopler »

Moru wrote: post #132
TomMarius wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't agree. The internet definitely did not exist in any form that would be today seen as sufficient ever before. The sheer scale makes it impossible, advertising is the only way poor people could afford it and pay for it without paying money at the same time (so the developer now has a new option too). The options these companies that exist thanks to ads gave to all businesses in my country are enormous and have…

There is other ways to see ads. The companies don't pay money for advertising, they pay to make poor people buy things they don't need. If they would pay the site owner directly, maybe they would not be as poor?

Almost every ad is targeted at richer people, not poor people, for obvious reasons -- right her people have money to spend. Most companies would be fine giving their product free or at marginal cost to poor people if they could require richer people to pay. That's how freemium works, when it works. That's how DVD region coding works. That's how international book publishing works. That's why airfare is so cheap in economy class.

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

#163

Post by runn1ng »

alecb wrote: post #134
runn1ng wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, many supposedly legit websites (even large media companies) run these very scammy "man from YOUR LOCATION got rich in 20 days!" "one weird trick to get younger" ads that ultimately lead to some scam But if you ask them, it's not their fault, but the ad company (Google), which in turn will point to a different company, etc And in the end, people are scammed and Google gets a bit richer, but it's nobody's fault o…

FWIW the companies responsible for those ads are Taboola, Outbrain, and Revcontent. I posted one especially egregious example last week on r/adops: https://www.reddit.com/r/adops/comments/b0n57e/its_embarrass...

Huh, you are right. Those scummy links at Washington Post are all Outbrain. I was mistaken then (because they use BOTH Google and Outbrain)

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

#164

Post by elagost »

AngryData wrote: post #20

Advertising is a scourge upon society.

The new technologies behind ads are really terrible, but I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with a full-page Rolex ad in the WSJ. Dude in a fancy suit wearing a watch that looks great, and a quick description - that's a very simple, easy to understand model. If I like that watch, I can save up for it. Rolex doesn't know I saw it and doesn't care.

New technologies behind ads, tracking users wherever they go and hounding them relentlessly and using their personal communications to harvest more data - that's the scourge. I'm fine with ads, but I block them on every website because I'm not fine with tracking.

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

#165

Post by marcosdumay »

asdkfjasl wrote: post #138
stestagg wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just as if you were to buy a child’s toy that has a secret embedded camera that streams to some foreign server. It may be the manufacturers fault, but the person who sold it to you (the provider) is liable. Should be the same here

> the person who sold it to you (the provider) is liable I don't think that's true unless they knew it had this behavior or were negligent in some way.

That's how consumer law works nearly everywhere: every party has full (civil) liability over the outcome. The parties can then sue each other to settle it, without involvement of the consumer.

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

#166

Post by AlexandrB »

asdkfjasl wrote: post #138
stestagg wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just as if you were to buy a child’s toy that has a secret embedded camera that streams to some foreign server. It may be the manufacturers fault, but the person who sold it to you (the provider) is liable. Should be the same here

> the person who sold it to you (the provider) is liable I don't think that's true unless they knew it had this behavior or were negligent in some way.

> or were negligent in some way

I'm not sure what to call allowing any old shit to run in your app under the guise of ads other than negligent. The fact that it's so common should not be an excuse.

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

#167

Post by phkahler »

“I don’t even think about me being ripped off,” Julien told BuzzFeed News. “All I think about is them damaging the app’s reputation. It can cost money to [a user] and drain his battery.

We need more of that attitude in the world. So many companies try to make a buck doing things that ultimately damage their reputation. Once that's gone it's all down hill.

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

#168

Post by marcosdumay »

snarfy wrote: post #158
kbenson wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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'm not against advertising, but I am against branding. The term was borrowed from the cattle industry, where a hot piece of metal scars the cattle with a logo of the owner. Branding in advertising is meant to scar your brain. I consider it a form of assault.

You mean those laws that allows companies to get a reputation with their clients without a scammer being able to legally exploit it and confuse everybody?

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

#169

Post by phkahler »

hannob wrote: post #65

It is interesting how this article starts. A guy has an app which drains users batteries. But it's not his fault of course, because it's the ad company. Except the ad company says it's not their fault, because the ad came from some other company. This fingerpointing points to one of the core problems of the ad industry: They created a system where nobody knows who's responsible for anything, so malware and fraud has…

>> But this mode of thinking makes no sense. If you put ads in your app YOU are responsible. If you use an ad service from a shady company that outsources to other shady companies then you're still responsible.

Then it comes back to the Play Store. They like having all those free apps. It makes users feel like their Andriod phone has whatever they need. Google needs to make apps searchable based on privacy settings. They need to encourage people to pay for user respecting apps. I'd happily pay a buck or two for lots of apps if only they didn't have add or try to get me to buy add-ons. Just give me upfront honesty about what I'm getting and I'll pay you for it. Stop hosting crapware in the app store!

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

#170

Post by dwighttk »

Razengan wrote: post #153
AngryData wrote: post #20

Advertising is a scourge upon society.

What if people were directly paid to view adverts? Introduce ad viewing apps where people voluntarily sign up, provide information about themselves, and use attention-tracking etc. to reward them with some money based on how many adverts they watch or surveys they answer. Maybe go further and ban all other forms of advertisement that takes up space anywhere, classifying them as vandalism. Everybody wins (unless this…

why not? https://www.techeblog.com/rare-look-inside-an-app-review-far...
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