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Ad blocker that clicks on the ads

dhowe.github.io

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Re: Ad blocker that clicks on the ads

#51

Post by Alupis »

DanielBMarkham wrote: post #43
forca wrote: post #19

I realize this won't be popular, but I really have no feelings for ad networks. - They allow shoddy security on their servers - They track users against their will - Info on me is sold w/o my knowledge or consent - Ads are a poor business model since they can be blocked - There is no moral imperative for me to view ads since I've paid to access the Interwebs I block all ads, tracking cookies, beacons, all of it... I…

Agreed. People forget, we half-stumbled into this ad supported content idea. The only thing keeping it that way is inertia. I think we've finally started to feel the limits -- it means being tracked 24-7. Enough already. We can do better than this.

Are you doing anything about it? I mean, personally, I listen to about a half dozen podcasts, but haven't signed up for any of their monthly "donations" (most have re-occurring payments from paypal or amazon to help support the network/show). I do occasionally click through one of their product endorsements based on their review (often tagged with amazon affiliate links), so that is a small part.

Re: Ad blocker that clicks on the ads

#53

Post by rvschuilenburg »

jackmaney wrote: post #35
loumf wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's explained on the site. If every ad is clicked by everyone, tracking data is useless.

No, it isn't. Ad networks would have a clearer picture of sites that people visit (albeit a muddier picture of ad preferences).

Clearer picture? I think just loading the ad is enough info for finding out what sites are visited. This just makes clicks less valuable.

Re: Ad blocker that clicks on the ads

#55

Post by vertex-four »

jmount wrote: post #45
forca wrote: post #19

I realize this won't be popular, but I really have no feelings for ad networks. - They allow shoddy security on their servers - They track users against their will - Info on me is sold w/o my knowledge or consent - Ads are a poor business model since they can be blocked - There is no moral imperative for me to view ads since I've paid to access the Interwebs I block all ads, tracking cookies, beacons, all of it... I…

Strongly agree. Ads (and even ads placed by primary distributors and authors) hijacked the internet without permission from browsers/surfers and routinely have additional negative consequences. The reader doesn't need permission to defend themselves.

Do ads in a newspaper "hijack the real world"?

Re: Ad blocker that clicks on the ads

#56

Post by josho »

mpeg wrote: post #10

I don't understand this, they say it prevents tracking but, actually, this helps ad companies track you since they will now know you will click their ads whenever you are visiting a certain site. With ad blockers that prevent the HTTP request, those third party sites aren't able to track you. The publisher can always track you but that won't be shared with their advertisers or networks. Disclaimer: I work in the adte…

Their hypothesis is that bad data (I click everything) is worse for the ad networks than no data (ad blocker).

I suspect the hypothesis is wrong for two reasons. Those clicks make the network money, and a small percent of bad data across their network is noise.

Re: Ad blocker that clicks on the ads

#57

Post by greyman »

balazsdavid987 wrote: post #9
verroq wrote: post #3

This is a great way to get your favourite websites blacklisted for click-fraud.

Exactly. This is way more harmful for websites than a simple adblocker.

But that is the point - they want to actively fight against ads who do tracing, and by extension, against sites using those ads.

Re: Ad blocker that clicks on the ads

#58

Post by acdha »

forca wrote: post #19

I realize this won't be popular, but I really have no feelings for ad networks. - They allow shoddy security on their servers - They track users against their will - Info on me is sold w/o my knowledge or consent - Ads are a poor business model since they can be blocked - There is no moral imperative for me to view ads since I've paid to access the Interwebs I block all ads, tracking cookies, beacons, all of it... I…

> There is no moral imperative for me to view ads since I've paid to access the Interwebs

I dislike the ad model but this is dangerously wrong: you pay your ISP for transit – unless you're subscribing to a specific site, nobody else gets a dime from you to pay for their costs. Unless subscriptions or micropayments catch on, that means that sites are either going to rely on ads or will be limited to organizations with significant other revenue streams – neither of which is a particularly healthy prospect.

Re: Ad blocker that clicks on the ads

#59

Post by sheetjs »

perlgeek wrote: post #29
androidb wrote: post #8

Bad idea, ads are also a way to support the site/service you are using. Automatic ad clicks can get that site banned (i.e. Adsense will surely do that) so that's a sure way to kill the site. Google for instance wouldn't have existed without ads. Lots of people on HN saved millennia with help from Stackoverflow (ad supported) and so on. I'm now "ad-aware" so I know how to differentiate content from ads, but I will cli…

> Automatic ad clicks can get that site banned (i.e. Adsense will surely do that) And that's a huge weakness that deserves more attention: You can easily ruin your competitor's ad business that way. Maybe this extension is a valid way to draw attention to that weakness?

relevant: http://krebsonsecurity.com/2014/07/service-drains-competitor...

Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8086937

Re: Ad blocker that clicks on the ads

#60

Post by gglitch »

I sympathize with anyone who doesn't have the technical knowledge to know whether a given ad is benign or malignant, or even what the real differences are between the two. For that crowd, the unregulated ad-based market (the web) can feel quite predatory, and an adblocker can feel like a very sensible default protective measure. If there were other trustworthy protective measures in place, that gave a user confidence that a given ad or a given page wouldn't do anything alarming or insecure, maybe adblockers wouldn't be necessary.
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