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Mozilla and independent researchers publish guidelines for an ad archive API

blog.mozilla.org

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Re: Mozilla and independent researchers publish guidelines for an ad archive API

#41

Post by Nannooskeeska »

stirfrykitty wrote: post #25
kylek wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recently set up a Pi-hole. I've always been pretty extreme in my blocking extensions (everything you listed and more, plus things like first party isolation) and I was flabbergasted to see Pi-hole blocking 10-15% of my requests. Highly recommended!

Always good to see other people enjoying success with the Pi-hole. I've set up so many of them for people. It really does work.

I'll ad (pun intended) to the Pi-Hole praise. I set mine up a couple months ago and I absolutely love it. I've had literally 0 issues so far.

Re: Mozilla and independent researchers publish guidelines for an ad archive API

#42

Post by ozim »

msla wrote: post #38
nickelcitymario wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Preach. It's not about blocking ads. It's about exposing people who would abuse ads. It's like saying: "The solution to human trafficking is for everyone to stop having sex. If no one has sex, no one will pay for trafficking." As an aside: I would not want to live in an advertising-free world, if only because advertising pays for so much of the shit I would otherwise have to pay for myself. Online ads have entered in…

It's useful to distinguish between advertisements and adtech: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17972297 http://blogs.harvard.edu/doc/2018/05/12/gdpr/ > Advertising isn’t personal, and doesn’t have to be. In fact, knowing it’s not personal is an advantage for advertisers. Consumers don’t wonder what the hell an ad is doing where it is, who put it there, or why. > Advertising makes brands. Nearly all the brands you…

I care to disagree deeply on the notion that "Advertising" is somehow much better than "Adtech".

Note I am not saying "Adtech" is good, there are boundaries.

But notice "it shows a company can afford to advertise", "Advertising makes brands. Nearly all the brands you know were burned into your brain by advertising". Which makes winner takes all, and only big players can afford advertising. Which is bad and second half of 20th century was monopolized by giants that could afford buying all advertising space there was.

"Adtech" already is disrupting big companies monopolies allowing smaller players to be seen in the internet because of democratization of costs. But of course I agree it went wrong, though I don't know how to make it better, because if you would let people select their preferences it would be too much hassle and no one would care.

Maybe tracking-based would be OK if I could have all data on my machine and something like my personal assistant would help me with searching.

Re: Mozilla and independent researchers publish guidelines for an ad archive API

#43

Post by darkpuma »

nickelcitymario wrote: post #40
darkpuma wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even in traditional print magazines you find abusive and emotionally manipulative advertisements from internationally known corporations, with their recognizable brands proudly announced on the ad. For instance ads that gaslight the reader, or suggest the reader is unattractive and can only rectify that by purchasing the product. Ads that try to induce then exploit low self esteem to sell products are more common but…

It might not stop those people from doing whatever it is they want to do. But it helps us to be more informed. And when we're more informed, we can write better laws. For example, it used to be perfectly legal to lie in advertising. But we became more informed, and we enacted new laws, and now you can't blatantly lie in an ad without risking being sued for it. You used to be able to say things like "Coca-Cola will ma…

Progress on legislating reform of the advertising industry has stalled. It remains perfectly legal for Coca Cola to suggest to an emotionally vulnerable child that drinking addictive sugar water will improve their social life. That's wrong, and more needs to be done about it. It's a problem that should be attacked from all conceivable angles. We need better laws (municipalities that have laws against billboards have the right idea), better adblocking technology, and more effective campaigns to identify, shame and shun people who work in the advertising industry. They should be social pariahs.

Re: Mozilla and independent researchers publish guidelines for an ad archive API

#44

Post by toomuchtodo »

dao- wrote: post #8
megous wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> just block anything that is not actual content At this point the reverse approach (whitelist) becomes easier. Just pluck out the content, ignore the rest, and write your own simple UI. Most websites can be modeled quite easily as category->article(->comment) with some additional data. Writing UI for that is quite trivial. It can be done in browser via extensions/userscripts (without a database), or you can fetch th…

> At this point the reverse approach (whitelist) becomes easier. Just pluck out the content, ignore the rest, and write your own simple UI. This basically exists already. It's called Reader View in Firefox.

Or Pocket.

Re: Mozilla and independent researchers publish guidelines for an ad archive API

#46

Post by aussieguy1234 »

btown wrote: post #12

I've taken a liking to the term "the New York Times rule" - write and act as if your message, statement, or a detailed account of your actions could be published at any time on the front page of the New York Times: https://businessethicsblog.com/2010/12/08/business-ethics-an... . The most concerning political advertising thrives in the shadows: it whispers messages to audiences that are false (easier to counter in th…

Not always a good idea.

Back in the 70s as the LGBT rights movement was beginning and being gay was still illegal, the Sydney Morning Herald published the names and addresses of those who marched in the first LGBT Mardi Gras, which became a riot after police became violent.

Some lost their jobs and were evicted. Many had problems for years after.

Re: Mozilla and independent researchers publish guidelines for an ad archive API

#47

Post by pessimizer »

terryschiavo22 wrote: post #27
btown wrote: post #12

I've taken a liking to the term "the New York Times rule" - write and act as if your message, statement, or a detailed account of your actions could be published at any time on the front page of the New York Times: https://businessethicsblog.com/2010/12/08/business-ethics-an... . The most concerning political advertising thrives in the shadows: it whispers messages to audiences that are false (easier to counter in th…

It sounds like you're saying, "Act as if Big Brother is always watching".

Or more explicitly: always act in a way in which people who could hurt you would like, even when you don't think anybody is watching.

Re: Mozilla and independent researchers publish guidelines for an ad archive API

#48

Post by anoncake »

nickelcitymario wrote: post #26
borntyping wrote: post #9

"Just block ads" isn't a useful answer here - this is about being able to see who is advertising to the people who aren't using ad-blockers (which is most users on the internet), and being able to do research into who is paying for advert and who they are targeting. As long as the advertising industry still has a presence on the internet, this information will be important.

Preach. It's not about blocking ads. It's about exposing people who would abuse ads. It's like saying: "The solution to human trafficking is for everyone to stop having sex. If no one has sex, no one will pay for trafficking." As an aside: I would not want to live in an advertising-free world, if only because advertising pays for so much of the shit I would otherwise have to pay for myself. Online ads have entered in…

>As an aside: I would not want to live in an advertising-free world, if only because advertising pays for so much of the shit I would otherwise have to pay for myself.

You still pay. Advertisers pass the cost of advertising on to the customer. Yes, you pay for being emotionally manipulated.

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