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AdTrap removes ads between your modem and router

kickstarter.com

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Re: AdTrap removes ads between your modem and router

#21

Post by adg001 »

relix wrote: post #17
adg001 wrote: post #6

What will prevent modem/router manufacturers from embedding an ad-filtering proxy into their devices (ie, eroding the need for a specialized AdTrap)?

Because like it or not, ads are a vital part of the internet.

I didn't questioned the ad-based internet ecosystem.

My question was about the AdTrap competitive advantage, if any.

I should have stated it better: assuming, for the sake of discussion, that we want an ad-blocking device, what will prevent modem/router manufacturers from embedding an ad-filtering proxy into their devices, tomorrow?

From the OEM perspective, more features means bringing more value. In turn, an ad-blocking router/modem would erode the need for a specialized device a la AdTrap.

Re: AdTrap removes ads between your modem and router

#22

Post by jrabone »

webjunkie wrote: post #7

No ads on the Internet? Seriously, how do you think the economy would work without ads? If everyone got one of these, I could tell my boss on monday to close the company.

Good. It's time for a better business model. Ads suck - they're badly implemented, bloated, bug-ridden, privacy invading security holes at worst, and not much better at best. Every network I have admin for gets a Privoxy HTTP proxy by default and adblock plus/noscript/requestpolicy as strongly advised. My users love it. These guys are right - it's time for change.

Re: AdTrap removes ads between your modem and router

#23

Post by Karunamon »

mibbitier wrote: post #11
webjunkie wrote: post #7

No ads on the Internet? Seriously, how do you think the economy would work without ads? If everyone got one of these, I could tell my boss on monday to close the company.

If everyone got one of these, websites would just change a bit of code, and ads would work again. Thankfully, most people find advertising a useful part of their lives - adblock usage is still something like 1% of users. blocking ads is as ridiculous as trying to block porn. Ever tried getting past adblock? It's very trivial. Also I'm not convinced this method of removing ads would work on ads served over https, wher…

>Ever tried getting past adblock? It's very trivial.

Ever tried getting past someone who thinks they can force you to watch ads? Also trivial.

Re: AdTrap removes ads between your modem and router

#24

Post by Karunamon »

kylec wrote: post #20

This is actually a really interesting product, but there are very few details. My big concern is one of trust - if I'm going to literally route all my network traffic through this device, how can I trust that it's not doing something nefarious? Also, what kind of performance does this device offer? Given that it's inspecting every connection, this might put a limit on the throughput it can provide and/or add addition…

>If I'm going to literally route all my network traffic through this device, how can I trust that it's not doing something nefarious?

How do you know that your modem, router, and ISP aren't doing something nefarious? Somehow I doubt a product which explicitly does Bad Things© to your datastream will sell well.

Re: AdTrap removes ads between your modem and router

#26

Post by makira »

buro9 wrote: post #14

Interesting. Would love to see how they work on picking adverts out of SSL pages. Would also love to see how they deal with tracking and affiliates stuff in addition to banner adverts. That latter one is an issue for me, I've found some sites to be simply unusable if AdBlock or Ghostery is running in my browser. It's usually tracking code (LinkedIn Inbox is useless to me as are sites that add Omniture to their shop b…

You can block many ads on SSL pages just by denying any DNS resolving to hostnames associated with ads.

But that won't catch everything.

Re: AdTrap removes ads between your modem and router

#27

Post by jrabone »

EvanAnderson wrote: post #15

Invariably the device will have security vulnerabilities. The potential man-in-the-middle access this thing will afford an attacker would be a treasure-trove, especially if it has SSL bump-in-the-wire functionality.

Why is it any worse than the current state of the browser SSL world? When was the last time anyone went through the built-in CA certificate list and deleted all the ones from countries with dubious human rights records, or companies with less-than-stellar security history?

Re: AdTrap removes ads between your modem and router

#29

Post by vegardx »

Karunamon wrote: post #24
kylec wrote: post #20

This is actually a really interesting product, but there are very few details. My big concern is one of trust - if I'm going to literally route all my network traffic through this device, how can I trust that it's not doing something nefarious? Also, what kind of performance does this device offer? Given that it's inspecting every connection, this might put a limit on the throughput it can provide and/or add addition…

>If I'm going to literally route all my network traffic through this device, how can I trust that it's not doing something nefarious? How do you know that your modem, router, and ISP aren't doing something nefarious? Somehow I doubt a product which explicitly does Bad Things© to your datastream will sell well.

Because they already have my data, no way that they would go through the hoops of installing a device at my home to do it. But I'm not saying that it's a ridicules idea to be worried about. It would be too damn easy to detect.

Re: AdTrap removes ads between your modem and router

#30

Post by glassx »

mibbitier wrote: post #11
webjunkie wrote: post #7

No ads on the Internet? Seriously, how do you think the economy would work without ads? If everyone got one of these, I could tell my boss on monday to close the company.

If everyone got one of these, websites would just change a bit of code, and ads would work again. Thankfully, most people find advertising a useful part of their lives - adblock usage is still something like 1% of users. blocking ads is as ridiculous as trying to block porn. Ever tried getting past adblock? It's very trivial. Also I'm not convinced this method of removing ads would work on ads served over https, wher…

> most people find advertising a useful part of their lives

Citation needed. "Most people" might not use AdBlock because they don't know about it or don't know how to install it.

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