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AdNauseam: uBlock Origin fork silently clicking ads on behalf of users

github.com

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Re: AdNauseam: uBlock Origin fork silently clicking ads on behalf of users

#11

Post by redeux »

endisneigh wrote: post #6

Fight against ads by giving the ad networks money and further incentivizing captcha and other tech to stop bots.

It gives them money in the short term but it costs their clients money and makes the service overall less valuable. If everyone installed this it would basically wreck the online ads industry overnight.

Re: AdNauseam: uBlock Origin fork silently clicking ads on behalf of users

#12

Post by paulpauper »

xwdv wrote: post #8

Of all the ad blockers, AdNauseam is the one that is feared the most. If everybody used it, it would kill the industry.

there are so many things that should have killed the industry by now, but it finds a way to keep thriving ...

Re: AdNauseam: uBlock Origin fork silently clicking ads on behalf of users

#13

Post by xypage »

endisneigh wrote: post #6

Fight against ads by giving the ad networks money and further incentivizing captcha and other tech to stop bots.

It gives the networks money but it also hurts the companies actually running the ads, which would disincentivize them to do it at all, and the networks will only make more money if companies don't see a decrease in pay off for clicks and reduce their offers/stop running ads through that service altogether.

That being said realistically this is too niche for nearly enough people to run it to make any significant difference on the scale of the networks themselves, it'll just obfuscate your tracking a little.

Re: AdNauseam: uBlock Origin fork silently clicking ads on behalf of users

#14

Post by NoZebra120vClip »

xwdv wrote: post #8

Of all the ad blockers, AdNauseam is the one that is feared the most. If everybody used it, it would kill the industry.

What economic model would you like to supplant the one which is currently serving a whole load of websites to us all for free?

Re: AdNauseam: uBlock Origin fork silently clicking ads on behalf of users

#15

Post by nextaccountic »

mgiampapa wrote: post #4

This may not be the best title, it's the desired function of the add-on to generate noise and making tracking and targeting less useful. There is nothing hidden about what it is doing for the user.

Yes, I think that this title should be changed to reflect that this is the intended behavior. Like "AdNauseam: uBlock Origin fork that automatically click ads on behalf of users"

Re: AdNauseam: uBlock Origin fork silently clicking ads on behalf of users

#16

Post by paulpauper »

nvy wrote: post #10
endisneigh wrote: post #6

Fight against ads by giving the ad networks money and further incentivizing captcha and other tech to stop bots.

Isn't the purpose to cause ad networks to lower fee payments due to rampant click fraud and thus to destroy the business model?

The problem is it does not destroy the model of annoying ads, it jsut makes it less profitable for publishers. It works like an auction, which is that advertisers place bids. assuming there are lots of fraudulent clicks, advertisers would notice a lower conversion rate, which would hurt ROI and advertisers would adjust by lowering bids, so the problem sorta corrects itself by adjusting to a new equilibrium of profitability. the only one hurt are the publishers and ad networks like meta/alphabet who earn less. but the evidence only shows higher ad rates despite this, not less.

Re: AdNauseam: uBlock Origin fork silently clicking ads on behalf of users

#19

Post by function_seven »

NoZebra120vClip wrote: post #14
xwdv wrote: post #8

Of all the ad blockers, AdNauseam is the one that is feared the most. If everybody used it, it would kill the industry.

What economic model would you like to supplant the one which is currently serving a whole load of websites to us all for free?

Display ads. No tracking, no JavaScript, no analytics.

Ad-supported media existed before the Internet. They would target based on content rather than reader.

That would be fine.

Re: AdNauseam: uBlock Origin fork silently clicking ads on behalf of users

#20

Post by neilv »

As someone who's been interested in tracker defeating since that became a thing around 25 years ago, I'm just a little concerned that something like this AdNauseum -- if ever adopted significantly -- could invite blowback that also hits more conventional tracker blocking, or other current liberties.

Not making certain HTTP requests seems to be protected right now. However, click fraud, with which this might be conflated, seems to be a very different matter.

Imagine this being used to justify hamfisted legal restrictions on how everyone's browsers may behave. Or used as a reason or pretext to effectively force even more invasive user identity requirements or device attestation. (Which, history suggests, will then be abused for more nefarious and societally dangerous purposes.)

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