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FBI recommends using an ad blocker (2022)

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Re: FBI recommends using an ad blocker (2022)

#11

It's always an insane experience when you hop on someone's laptop/PC who has zero ad blocking installed. POV: https://m.youtube.com/shorts/iV3js9pd5IE

I have a confession to make. I don't really have ad-block. If your site is too ad-infested, I stop using it.

That feels like a pretty fair approach.

If you don’t mind, I’m truly curious why you don’t Adblock? There’s no wrong answer here. ;)

Re: FBI recommends using an ad blocker (2022)

#12

It's always an insane experience when you hop on someone's laptop/PC who has zero ad blocking installed. POV: https://m.youtube.com/shorts/iV3js9pd5IE

I have a confession to make. I don't really have ad-block. If your site is too ad-infested, I stop using it.

I do that too when my adblock is a little behind the adversary

Re: FBI recommends using an ad blocker (2022)

#16

It's always an insane experience when you hop on someone's laptop/PC who has zero ad blocking installed. POV: https://m.youtube.com/shorts/iV3js9pd5IE

I have a confession to make. I don't really have ad-block. If your site is too ad-infested, I stop using it.

Typically people with this attitude have no-JS or something though for privacy reasons. That would cut a lot of ads down.

Or do you not use any blockers at all?

Re: FBI recommends using an ad blocker (2022)

#17
I'd like to see society in general become less tolerant of unwanted ads.

The original Google site hit the perfect pitch, where they set a few unobtrusive ones out of the way alongside your results screen. Ironic they pioneered and eventually normalized what is now an epidemic of user-hostile spam all over the web. I feel as a whole we lose a lot more productivity and focus to this than we gain in economic activity.

Re: FBI recommends using an ad blocker (2022)

#18
> Before clicking on an advertisement, check the URL to make sure the site is authentic

Yeah, good luck doing that with all the various tracking links that mask the actual domain. Sometimes I try to click on links from legit account related emails that are blocked by UBO for being part of a tracker/ad network.

Re: FBI recommends using an ad blocker (2022)

#19
Google has convinced regulatory agencies that they're not responsible for their own complicity with supporting link fraud. I wrote an article about Google's role in enabling link fraud[1], which shows how this is effectively a form of regulatory capture.

Here's a particularly salient critique of these very same FBI recommendations, from my article:

> The FBI suggests “Before clicking on an advertisement, check the URL to make sure the site is authentic. A malicious domain name may be similar to the intended URL but with typos or a misplaced letter.” — this is useless advice in the face of unverified vanity URLs

1. https://eligrey.com/blog/link-fraud/

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