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Rise of Ad Blocking Is the Ad Industry's Fault, Says Outgoing FTC Commissioner

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Re: Rise of Ad Blocking Is the Ad Industry's Fault, Says Outgoing FTC Commissioner

#171

Post by jimktrains2 »

DanielBMarkham wrote: post #9
karterk wrote: post #5

For a very long time, I did not want to use ad blockers. I have used ads in the past to monetize some of my own projects, and I really did not want to stab the creators of quality content. However, last week I finally reversed my decision and started using ad blockers. Why? Frankly, many sites are just greedy. Banners were ugly enough (and I tolerated them) but many sites these days show ads that cover the content, a…

I both make a small amount of money from ads and also use AdBlocker. The thing is, I don't mind ads. The problem is that the people providing content should own and manage what ads they show me. This idea of allocating page space and then bidding it off? It only leads to click fraud, malware, and all sorts of other problems. Instead, write things I find useful, then provide me links -- text links -- to ways I might c…

> The problem is that the people providing content should own and manage what ads they show me.

I started building something that would do this, but was never able to generate any interest and gave up eventually. Do you think there is interest outside of us and I should continue that? Where would I find interested parties? Does it already exist?

Re: Rise of Ad Blocking Is the Ad Industry's Fault, Says Outgoing FTC Commissioner

#172

Post by ams6110 »

eli wrote: post #156
spacehome wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yea, I'm ready for websites who can't find a viable monetization strategy to just go bankrupt already and stop blaming me for their shitty business plan.

You won't miss them? Quite a few of the sites I enjoy are struggling to remain ad supported and I would be sad if they can't find a way to make it work.

Do you enjoy them enough to pay for them?

Re: Rise of Ad Blocking Is the Ad Industry's Fault, Says Outgoing FTC Commissioner

#173

Post by Kalium »

chrisseaton wrote: post #67
a3n wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know how it's done, but it happens. Forbes Shuts Down Ads Serving Malware http://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2015/09/22/forbes...

I don't know how it's done either, and I've heard about them a few times. It seems somewhat unlikely that there is a remote code execution vulnerability being exploited only by adverts that hasn't been urgently fixed by the browsers. If there genuinely is an exploit, an advert blocker isn't enough as you could put it on any website as well. Therefore I wonder if it's possible that someone has a mis-informed definitio…

> I don't know how it's done either, and I've heard about them a few times. It seems somewhat unlikely that there is a remote code execution vulnerability being exploited only by adverts that hasn't been urgently fixed by the browsers.

Flash. And there are a lot of unpatched browsers out there. Between the two, there are lots of users vulnerable to malvertising.

An ad blocker doesn't address the whole of the vulnerability space, but it is a significant mitigation.

Re: Rise of Ad Blocking Is the Ad Industry's Fault, Says Outgoing FTC Commissioner

#174

Post by throwaway2048 »

sokoloff wrote: post #25
cm2187 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I might agree that preventing ads from displaying is immoral but tracking users across websites is even more immoral. And since I cannot rely on websites to behave, ad-blockers are actually re-introducing morality into browsing by blocking the tracking.

They block one vector of tracking. They don't block CDN-based tracking: http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2010/11/30/a-new-type-of-trackin... (note the juxtaposition of "new" and "2010")

the addon decentraleyes is looking to improve the situation

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/android/addon/decentraleyes...

Re: Rise of Ad Blocking Is the Ad Industry's Fault, Says Outgoing FTC Commissioner

#175

Post by throwaway2048 »

eli wrote: post #90
chrisseaton wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does an advert deliver a virus? Are these genuine remote native code execution vulnerabilities in browsers? Or just breaking the sandbox somehow and using internal browser APIs? Isn't what you need a security patch for your browser rather than an advert blocker?

Yes, exactly correct. If an ad blocker is the only thing between you and a compromised machine then you are not safe. I'd be curious if anyone has data, but I would guess "hacked wordpress site" is a far more common vector for spreading this sort of malware than malicious ads.

Ads appear everywhere immediately when published, very few people are visiting some random hacked blogs. Ads are THE vector of choice for browser malware. You may not be safe from the browser exploit with an adblocker, but you will be safe from the method most exploits are delivered.

Re: Rise of Ad Blocking Is the Ad Industry's Fault, Says Outgoing FTC Commissioner

#176

Post by livingparadox »

zanny wrote: post #140
RodericDay wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is the word for this relationship "patronage"?

Usually, but patronage has connotations involving having independent patrons commission you for work. There isn't really proper vocabulary for proposing ideas of things you want to make to the world, and having them fund you creating what they want back. Closest you get is corporate internal pitches.

I think the new concept of crowdfunding fills the vocabulary need here.

Re: Rise of Ad Blocking Is the Ad Industry's Fault, Says Outgoing FTC Commissioner

#177

Post by eli »

trolly wrote: post #166
eli wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You won't miss them? Quite a few of the sites I enjoy are struggling to remain ad supported and I would be sad if they can't find a way to make it work.

Out of curiosity could you give a couple examples?

Well, first off: full disclosure that my startup is ad-supported business news sites. So feel free to consider me biased, but the reason I started the company with this model is because I really believe news websites work best when anyone can read the articles without paying a fee or signing up for an account.

Off the top of my head maybe a good example is http://popville.com/ which is a local DC blog. The guy who runs it is a little controversial, but the site is extremely well-read and useful and 100% ad supported. http://arstechnica.com/ is great too. And then, ya know, stuff like Twitter wouldn't really work if you had to pay to use it. Or do Twitter ads not count?

Re: Rise of Ad Blocking Is the Ad Industry's Fault, Says Outgoing FTC Commissioner

#178

Post by eli »

throwaway2048 wrote: post #175
eli wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, exactly correct. If an ad blocker is the only thing between you and a compromised machine then you are not safe. I'd be curious if anyone has data, but I would guess "hacked wordpress site" is a far more common vector for spreading this sort of malware than malicious ads.

Ads appear everywhere immediately when published, very few people are visiting some random hacked blogs. Ads are THE vector of choice for browser malware. You may not be safe from the browser exploit with an adblocker, but you will be safe from the method most exploits are delivered.

I've personally encountered multiple hacked sites and zero malicious ads (so far as I know). Like I said, I'd be really curious if anyone has actual data on different exploit vectors rather than just arguing anecdotes.

I think my point remains, however, that if your browser can be compromised by visiting a URL then you are in a bad situation ad blocker or not.

Re: Rise of Ad Blocking Is the Ad Industry's Fault, Says Outgoing FTC Commissioner

#179

Post by 13thLetter »

DanielBMarkham wrote: post #9
karterk wrote: post #5

For a very long time, I did not want to use ad blockers. I have used ads in the past to monetize some of my own projects, and I really did not want to stab the creators of quality content. However, last week I finally reversed my decision and started using ad blockers. Why? Frankly, many sites are just greedy. Banners were ugly enough (and I tolerated them) but many sites these days show ads that cover the content, a…

I both make a small amount of money from ads and also use AdBlocker. The thing is, I don't mind ads. The problem is that the people providing content should own and manage what ads they show me. This idea of allocating page space and then bidding it off? It only leads to click fraud, malware, and all sorts of other problems. Instead, write things I find useful, then provide me links -- text links -- to ways I might c…

> Ads are fine when they help people.

It's really easy to forget this. Ads can be a good thing! Anyone ever pick up Computer Shopper magazine in the '90s? It was a giant phonebook full of practically nothing but ads for computer hardware and software. And not only did people voluntarily read it, they paid money for the privilege, because it was useful to them.

Re: Rise of Ad Blocking Is the Ad Industry's Fault, Says Outgoing FTC Commissioner

#180

Post by InclinedPlane »

team_doom wrote: post #91
InclinedPlane wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you ever listen to the radio or live tv? And if so do you feel an obligation to not switch channels when there are ads playing? Such utter nonsense.

I do, actually. I listen to commercials on the radio all the time. It's how they pay for the content I'm listening to and they are often targeted enough that I hear about a business/offer that is pertinent to me. I don't think it's "utter nonsense". I feel like I'm supporting the continued existence of something that I care enough about to listen to. If they can't monetize the service, how can it be expected to conti…

But the real test is whether your are influenced by radio and tv commercials. Do you buy the products advertised?
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