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Ad blocker that clicks on the ads

dhowe.github.io

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Re: Ad blocker that clicks on the ads

#21

Post by forrestthewoods »

androidb wrote: post #8

Bad idea, ads are also a way to support the site/service you are using. Automatic ad clicks can get that site banned (i.e. Adsense will surely do that) so that's a sure way to kill the site. Google for instance wouldn't have existed without ads. Lots of people on HN saved millennia with help from Stackoverflow (ad supported) and so on. I'm now "ad-aware" so I know how to differentiate content from ads, but I will cli…

I often wonder what the internet would be like without ads. First of all, you're right that it would totally kill sites. Let's say it happens. What's next? I would be ecstatic if sites like BuzzFeed and Gawker died. That'd be great[1]. But it also kills good sites like Stackoverflow. That sucks.

Right now people don't have to pay for content. Almost everything is ad based. Because of this people almost never pay for the really great premium content. Well what if there was no free, good content? Would that lead to more great content? Probably not... but maybe! What if suddenly people expected to pay a small subscription fee to a small number of sites in exchange for great content. That'd be, well, great!

How do you guys think it would play out?

[1] I think they literally make the world a worse place but that's a separate discussion.

Re: Ad blocker that clicks on the ads

#22

Post by loumf »

chrisBob wrote: post #17
Imerso wrote: post #12

While I agree that this can be a problem for the webpages you visit, see that the point of the extension is: " [...] to obfuscate browsing data and protect users from surveillance and tracking by advertising networks." So while it may be a negative side effect the point of the extension is not disrupting online advertisement, but disrupting online tracking. Even though you will be effectively doing both.

Can someone explain now clicking an ad link prevents tracking?

It's explained on the site. If every ad is clicked by everyone, tracking data is useless.

Re: Ad blocker that clicks on the ads

#23

Post by Imerso »

chrisBob wrote: post #17
Imerso wrote: post #12

While I agree that this can be a problem for the webpages you visit, see that the point of the extension is: " [...] to obfuscate browsing data and protect users from surveillance and tracking by advertising networks." So while it may be a negative side effect the point of the extension is not disrupting online advertisement, but disrupting online tracking. Even though you will be effectively doing both.

Can someone explain now clicking an ad link prevents tracking?

Not sure what might be the exact point. I mean while that would make useless extracting information about your add clicking habits, they would still know what webpages you visit. So it may be counterproductive compared with a normal ad blocker.

Re: Ad blocker that clicks on the ads

#24

Post by Someone1234 »

chrisBob wrote: post #17
Imerso wrote: post #12

While I agree that this can be a problem for the webpages you visit, see that the point of the extension is: " [...] to obfuscate browsing data and protect users from surveillance and tracking by advertising networks." So while it may be a negative side effect the point of the extension is not disrupting online advertisement, but disrupting online tracking. Even though you will be effectively doing both.

Can someone explain now clicking an ad link prevents tracking?

I too am a little confused on that score. The advertisers continue to know your interests (i.e. the sites you visit) and can build a demographic picture of you based on that.

The only thing this deprives them of is your ad preferences. But given how few ads most people click on, this information is sparse regardless.

Re: Ad blocker that clicks on the ads

#26

Post by jackmaney »

mpeg wrote: post #10

I don't understand this, they say it prevents tracking but, actually, this helps ad companies track you since they will now know you will click their ads whenever you are visiting a certain site. With ad blockers that prevent the HTTP request, those third party sites aren't able to track you. The publisher can always track you but that won't be shared with their advertisers or networks. Disclaimer: I work in the adte…

Thank you, I was about to post more or less the exact same thing. I used to work in the adtech industry.

Re: Ad blocker that clicks on the ads

#27

Post by adjwilli »

mpeg wrote: post #10

I don't understand this, they say it prevents tracking but, actually, this helps ad companies track you since they will now know you will click their ads whenever you are visiting a certain site. With ad blockers that prevent the HTTP request, those third party sites aren't able to track you. The publisher can always track you but that won't be shared with their advertisers or networks. Disclaimer: I work in the adte…

I'm not endorsing AdNauseam, but the idea is that the information the ad companies track will be useless since the target person will appear to have clicked on every ad regardless of true interest in the product. For instance it will make it appear that a single, heterosexual male is interested beauty products or diapers.

Re: Ad blocker that clicks on the ads

#28

Post by teddyh »

“Most of you have browsers, and most of those browsers show you advertisements, and I’m very puzzled about why. The advertisements are annoying most of the time, they slow you down, they injure the concentration that you bring to whatever task it is that you’re doing, and there’s no reason why they show you advertisements; my browser doesn’t show me any advertisements. I don’t see any ads when I read The New York Times, or go to wherever it is that you are happy going to, because my browser has Adblock in it, and that pretty much ends the story. Even in this town, many of you, indeed, I would guess, most of you are probably using the Firefox browser. That means you’re two clicks away from not having any advertising on the net anymore. All you need to do is google “Adblock Plus”, and say “I’m feeling lucky”, [Laughter] thank you very much. Now you know why my friends – and they are my friends – at the Mozilla Foundation are paid tens of millions of dollars every year by Google – basically, not to bundle Adblock Plus into the default distribution of Firefox.

But you also know why all the talk about advertising supported models on the web is just talk, and why it is that in the end, all of those models are fated not to work. Because in digital media, when you give people knowledge, you can’t force them to take advertising, because digital media are filterable – that’s the beauty of them.”

— Eben Moglen, Free and Open Software: Paradigm for a New Intellectual Commons, 2009-03-13

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Free_and_Open_Software:_Parad...

Re: Ad blocker that clicks on the ads

#29

Post by perlgeek »

androidb wrote: post #8

Bad idea, ads are also a way to support the site/service you are using. Automatic ad clicks can get that site banned (i.e. Adsense will surely do that) so that's a sure way to kill the site. Google for instance wouldn't have existed without ads. Lots of people on HN saved millennia with help from Stackoverflow (ad supported) and so on. I'm now "ad-aware" so I know how to differentiate content from ads, but I will cli…

> Automatic ad clicks can get that site banned (i.e. Adsense will surely do that)

And that's a huge weakness that deserves more attention: You can easily ruin your competitor's ad business that way.

Maybe this extension is a valid way to draw attention to that weakness?

Re: Ad blocker that clicks on the ads

#30

Post by tomp »

androidb wrote: post #8

Bad idea, ads are also a way to support the site/service you are using. Automatic ad clicks can get that site banned (i.e. Adsense will surely do that) so that's a sure way to kill the site. Google for instance wouldn't have existed without ads. Lots of people on HN saved millennia with help from Stackoverflow (ad supported) and so on. I'm now "ad-aware" so I know how to differentiate content from ads, but I will cli…

There's a big difference between Google's AdWords and other advertising (including Google's AdSense). I universally oppose all advertisements (in the seconds sense), I even think that billboards in public should be banned. Advertisement like that is just pollution of the mind. However, However, I don't consider AdWords or bulletin board ads "advertisement" in the same sense of the word, because it's just showing you something you already want to see. If I'm searching for upcoming concerts, I want to see information/ads about upcoming concerts :)
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