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Every Major Advertising Group Is Blasting Apple for Blocking Cookies in Safari

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Re: Every Major Advertising Group Is Blasting Apple for Blocking Cookies in Safari

#11
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When their main revenue is ads? Will there be "acceptable ads"?

Yes, of course. Even ad block plus has 'acceptable' ads. Especially in the case of Google, their ads are def 'acceptable' :)

That seems like it will lead to some monopoly-style legal trouble

Re: Every Major Advertising Group Is Blasting Apple for Blocking Cookies in Safari

#12
What's especially infuriating about the advertisers' spin here is that Apple appears to have gone to a lot of effort to not destroy their business model. They're not simply blocking third-party tracking cookies, they're expiring or partitioning them more rapidly based on how infrequently the user interacts with a given website.

https://webkit.org/blog/7675/intelligent-tracking-prevention...

Re: Every Major Advertising Group Is Blasting Apple for Blocking Cookies in Safari

#13
post #4

This is coming. Chrome is implementing a built in ad blocker. Advertisers and content providers can either start getting used to the idea now and get ahead of the trend. Or they can watch their business model suffer and scramble to catch up later.

Of course Google's ads will be deemed as "acceptable" with their own ad blocker. What are the chances that Google will add the capability to allow for third party "content blockers" that block ads in Chrome for Android?

Apple has allowed third party content blockers for iOS for years.

Re: Every Major Advertising Group Is Blasting Apple for Blocking Cookies in Safari

#14
post #6
post #4

This is coming. Chrome is implementing a built in ad blocker. Advertisers and content providers can either start getting used to the idea now and get ahead of the trend. Or they can watch their business model suffer and scramble to catch up later.

When their main revenue is ads? Will there be "acceptable ads"?

If I remember correctly, the idea is to block ads that don't conform to the standards set by the Coalition for Better Ads [0]. Google is (as you can expect) a member of this coalition (just like Facebook and many other companies [1]).

[0]: https://www.betterads.org/standards/ [1]: https://www.betterads.org/members/

Re: Every Major Advertising Group Is Blasting Apple for Blocking Cookies in Safari

#15
post #14
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When their main revenue is ads? Will there be "acceptable ads"?

If I remember correctly, the idea is to block ads that don't conform to the standards set by the Coalition for Better Ads [0]. Google is (as you can expect) a member of this coalition (just like Facebook and many other companies [1]). [0]: https://www.betterads.org/standards/ [1]: https://www.betterads.org/members/

Gotcha. That makes sense

Re: Every Major Advertising Group Is Blasting Apple for Blocking Cookies in Safari

#17
post #6
post #4

This is coming. Chrome is implementing a built in ad blocker. Advertisers and content providers can either start getting used to the idea now and get ahead of the trend. Or they can watch their business model suffer and scramble to catch up later.

When their main revenue is ads? Will there be "acceptable ads"?

[deleted]

Re: Every Major Advertising Group Is Blasting Apple for Blocking Cookies in Safari

#19
A translation of the open letter from advertising companies to Apple:

  September 14, 2017
We're just now realizing what this means.

  An Open Letter from the Digital Advertising Community
"Community" means we're down to earth and neighborly.

  The undersigned organizations are leading trade associations 
  for the digital advertising and marketing industries, 
  collectively representing thousands of companies that 
  responsibly participate in and shape today’s digital 
  landscape for the millions of consumers they serve.
We sell ads. Lots of ads. So much money. We're "responsible" for certain definitions of responsible. Like your teenager is "responsible" for crashing your new Porsche into a ravine. Speaking of Porsches, have we mentioned how much money we make selling ads?

  We are deeply concerned about the Safari 11 browser update 
  that Apple plans to release, as it overrides and replaces 
  existing user-controlled cookie preferences with Apple’s own 
  set of opaque and arbitrary standards for cookie handling.
That 99% of users think a cookie is a type of desert is neither here nor there. And by "user-controlled", we mean "defaults that benefit us".

We're also annoyed they didn't ask us. We're a bit hit at parties.

  Safari’s new “Intelligent Tracking Prevention” would change 
  the rules by which cookies are set and recognized by 
  browsers. In addition to blocking all third-party cookies 
  (i.e. those set by a domain other than the one being 
  visited), as the current version of Safari does, this new 
  functionality would create a set of haphazard rules over the 
  use of first-party cookies (i.e. those set by a domain the 
  user has chosen to visit) that block their functionality or 
  purge them from users’ browsers without notice or choice.
"Haphazard" meaning "we disagree". Also, we 100% agree with user notice or choice, unless the user chooses to block ads or desires notice on how we're using their data. That's, uh... proprietary.

  The infrastructure of the modern Internet depends on 
  consistent and generally applicable standards for cookies, 
  so digital companies can innovate to build content, 
  services, and advertising that are personalized for users 
  and remember their visits. Apple’s Safari move breaks those 
  standards and replaces them with an amorphous set of 
  shifting rules that will hurt the user experience and 
  sabotage the economic model for the Internet.
Can we talk about innovative advertising for a minute? We're piloting this pop-up that completely replaces boring content and downloads an awesome new app automatically. That app then opens with videos on housewife inventions.

We've put a lot of hard work into sandwiching ourselves as the economic model for the internet, and it really grinds our gears that anyone would suggest there are other ways to make money besides working with us.

  Apple’s unilateral and heavy-handed approach is bad for 
  consumer choice and bad for the ad-supported online content 
  and services consumers love. Blocking cookies in this manner 
  will drive a wedge between brands and their customers, and 
  it will make advertising more generic and less timely and 
  useful. Put simply, machine-driven cookie choices do not 
  represent user choice; they represent browser-manufacturer 
  choice. As organizations devoted to innovation and growth in 
  the consumer economy, we will actively oppose any actions 
  like this by companies that harm consumers by distorting the 
  digital advertising ecosystem and undermining its 
  operations.
For example, how will users know which #brand to choose without advertising? How will our customers survive without us? Might as well shut down this whole internet thing.

  We strongly encourage Apple to rethink its plan to impose 
  its own cookie standards and risk disrupting the valuable 
  digital advertising ecosystem that funds much of today’s 
  digital content and services.
It's not like Apple's ever forged ahead with risky new business models or economic decisions before, and open letters are really effective, so we're confident this will work.

   Signed,
A whole bunch of acronyms.

Re: Every Major Advertising Group Is Blasting Apple for Blocking Cookies in Safari

#20

> They argue it'll hurt user experience and campaign targeting Uh, it's the ads that are hurting the user experience. And I don't particularly care if your targeting suffers.

Here's a better euphemism:

> “Blocking cookies in this manner will drive a wedge between brands and their customers, . . ."

How about: . . . will drive a wedge between brands the those who they want to exploit.

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