Google Tag Manager, the new anti-adblock weapon (2020) • Hacker News Board

Re: Google Tag Manager, the new anti-adblock weapon (2020)

#161

Post by HWR_14 » Mon, Feb 21, 2022, 4:47 AM UTC

l33t2328 wrote: post #153

paulryanrogers wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How can it be legal for a government to make increasingly core services depend on these amoral, for profit monsters?

I’m not sure if this is a serious question, but what would this imaginary law say? The government can only do business with companies who aren’t in it for the money?

The US government isn't shy about adding rules for its contractors. It should be trivial for them to demand (or provide) dedicated IPs for their sites. Then they won't get caught up in the IP address blocking of GCP.

Re: Google Tag Manager, the new anti-adblock weapon (2020)

#162

Post by soheil » Mon, Feb 21, 2022, 4:47 AM UTC

I always wondered how much negative revenue the adblock extension is generating for Google. It must be in the billions. Crazy to think a simple extension can be involved with that much money.

Re: Google Tag Manager, the new anti-adblock weapon (2020)

#163

Post by gaius_baltar » Mon, Feb 21, 2022, 4:49 AM UTC

propogandist wrote: post #130

chrisseaton wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would you do that? Isn't it the server that talks to Google Tag Manager, not the browser?

use uMatrix or uBlock and block individual domains https://github.com/gorhill/uMatrix

Proud uMatrix user here. Sadly, just noticed that the repo is now archived and I don't know if it will be maintained. Could not find any fork either.

I'll miss this extension.

Re: Google Tag Manager, the new anti-adblock weapon (2020)

#164

Post by viraptor » Mon, Feb 21, 2022, 4:50 AM UTC

arvindamirtaa wrote: post #96

I use brave which has a "Brave shield" that disables GTM from loading altogether by default. Would that solve this issue?

Depends how is implemented. Currently: possibly, but likely not if all the steps were implemented.

Re: Google Tag Manager, the new anti-adblock weapon (2020)

#165

Post by HWR_14 » Mon, Feb 21, 2022, 4:51 AM UTC

whalesalad wrote: post #73

chrisseaton wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would you do that? Isn't it the server that talks to Google Tag Manager, not the browser?

Google tag manager in my experience is a script executed by the browser. Then it installs itself in the page and performs the inner payload of user script insertions. It’s a Trojan horse, really. You can block Google tag manager’s embed scripts. I wasn’t aware of a backend integration but it’s certainly possible. Regardless, I use a DNS based ad blocker (pihole) and it takes care of all this stuff. I occasionally nee…

The point is that DNS ad blocking is being worked around with this new system, because it looks like part of the site you're on. Also, that google is encouraging modifying the JS to prevent automated tools from blocking the javascript.

Re: Google Tag Manager, the new anti-adblock weapon (2020)

#166

Post by eru » Mon, Feb 21, 2022, 4:52 AM UTC

> How has Google been able to impose itself again? As with Google Analytics, the standard version of Google Tag Manager is free (market solutions are generally paid), it is very well integrated with other Google solutions and it is well done.

Not sure what they mean by 'market solutions' here?

Re: Google Tag Manager, the new anti-adblock weapon (2020)

#167

Post by HWR_14 » Mon, Feb 21, 2022, 4:52 AM UTC

Saris wrote: post #80

chrisseaton wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would you do that? Isn't it the server that talks to Google Tag Manager, not the browser?

Just block the GTM js from loading, it'll stop it easily.

Block the code that they suggest changing the name, domain, and function signatures of? How?

Re: Google Tag Manager, the new anti-adblock weapon (2020)

#168

Post by viraptor » Mon, Feb 21, 2022, 4:53 AM UTC

Fortunately, as bad as this is, I don't believe many companies will implement the worst version of it. (Server side + subdomain + different name scripts)

The reason is that we had server-side analytics available for years and virtually every big website still implements the clientside part. If they can't be bothered with that, I don't expect they'll move the whole tag manager any time soon.

Re: Google Tag Manager, the new anti-adblock weapon (2020)

#169

Post by eru » Mon, Feb 21, 2022, 4:53 AM UTC

paulryanrogers wrote: post #136

heavyset_go wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> By default, I don't run JavaScript. I don't see blocking JS as a problem - in fact, it's a blessing as the web is blinding fast without it - and also most of the ads just simply disappear if JS is not running. Years ago I was on the "people who block JavaScript are crazy" bandwagon, until just loading a single news article online meant waiting for a dozen ads and autoplaying videos to load. I spent more time waitin…

Tried NoScript for years and it was a pain. Too many of the sites I use need so many domains full of JS. So I think this will vary widely depending on the person and their preferred/needed sites.

I use NoScript with Firefox on Android (together with uBlock Origin). After I unblocked the websites I regularly use (and not the ad delivery domains), it doesn't get in the way that much.

Re: Google Tag Manager, the new anti-adblock weapon (2020)

#170

Post by altairprime » Mon, Feb 21, 2022, 4:54 AM UTC

gigel82 wrote: post #25

God damn... this is it, this is the end-game. There's no way to fight this unless you customize and maintain blocking scripts for each individual website. Yes, websites could always have done this, but the REST (CDN-bypassing) requests' cost and the manual maintenance for the telemetry endpoints and storage was an impediment that Google just gives them a drop-in solution for :( I think Google is happy to eat some of…

How much would you pay per month for custom-per-site tracking blocking as described here?