What Ad Blockers Are (And Are Not) Doing
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Blocking Ad Blockers, 16 J. MARSHALL REV
THE JOHN MARSHALL REVIEW OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW BLOCKING AD BLOCKERS TYLER BARBACOVI ABSTRACT The prevalence of ad blocking software (software that prevents the loading of web based advertisements) is a growing problem for website owners and content creators who rely on advertising revenue to earn money. While the number of ad block users continues to increase, there has thus far been no significant legal challenge to ad blocking in the United States. This comment examines how a website owner, through a combination of technological improvements and the anti-circumvention provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, could successfully raise a legal challenge against the purveyors of ad blocking software. Copyright © 2017 The John Marshall Law School Cite as Tyler Barbacovi, Blocking Ad Blockers, 16 J. MARSHALL REV. INTELL. PROP. L. 272 (2017). BLOCKING AD BLOCKERS TYLER BARBACOVI I. INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................. 273 A. Reasons for Using AFS ..................................................................................... 274 B. Attempts to Solve the AFS Problem Not Been Effective ................................ 275 C. The Rise of Ad-Walls ......................................................................................... 276 II. BACKGROUND ............................................................................................................. 278 A. Anti-Circumvention Provisions ....................................................................... -
A Usability Evaluation of Privacy Add-Ons for Web Browsers
A Usability Evaluation of Privacy Add-ons for Web Browsers Matthew Corner1, Huseyin Dogan1, Alexios Mylonas1 and Francis Djabri2 1 Bournemouth University, Bournemouth, United Kingdom {i7241812,hdogan,amylonas}@bournemouth.ac.uk 2 Mozilla Corporation, San Francisco, United States of America [email protected] Abstract. The web has improved our life and has provided us with more oppor- tunities to access information and do business. Nonetheless, due to the preva- lence of trackers on websites, web users might be subject to profiling while ac- cessing the web, which impairs their online privacy. Privacy browser add-ons, such as DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials, Ghostery and Privacy Badger, extend the privacy protection that the browsers offer by default, by identifying and blocking trackers. However, the work that focuses on the usability of the priva- cy add-ons, as well as the users’ awareness, feelings, and thoughts towards them, is rather limited. In this work, we conducted usability evaluations by uti- lising System Usability Scale and Think-Aloud Protocol on three popular priva- cy add-ons, i.e., DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials, Ghostery and Privacy Badg- er. Our work also provides insights into the users’ awareness of online privacy and attitudes towards the abovementioned privacy add-ons; in particular trust, concern, and control. Our results suggest that the participants feel safer and trusting of their respective add-on. It also uncovers areas for add-on improve- ment, such as a more visible toolbar logo that offers visual feedback, easy ac- cess to thorough help resources, and detailed information on the trackers that have been found. Keywords: Usability, Privacy, Browser Add-ons. -
Demystifying Content-Blockers: a Large-Scale Study of Actual Performance Gains
Demystifying Content-blockers: A Large-scale Study of Actual Performance Gains Ismael Castell-Uroz Josep Sole-Pareta´ Pere Barlet-Ros Universitat Politecnica` de Catalunya Universitat Politecnica` de Catalunya Universitat Politecnica` de Catalunya Barcelona, Spain Barcelona, Spain Barcelona, Spain [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Abstract—With the evolution of the online advertisement and highly parallel network measurement system [10] that loads tracking ecosystem, content-filtering has become the reference every website using one of the most relevant content-blockers tool for improving the security, privacy and browsing experience of each category and compares their performance. when surfing the Internet. It is also commonly believed that using content-blockers to stop unsolicited content decreases the time We found that, although we can observe some improvements needed for loading websites. In this work, we perform a large- in terms of effective page size, the results do not directly scale study with the 100K most popular websites on the actual translate to gains in loading time. In some cases, there could performance improvements of using content-blockers. We focus even be an overhead to be paid. This is the case for two of the our study on two relevant metrics for measuring the browsing studied plugins, especially in small and fast loading websites. performance; page size and loading time. Our results show that using such tools results in small improvements in terms of page The measurement system and methodology proposed in this size but, contrary to popular belief, it has a negligible impact in paper can also be useful for network and service administrators terms of loading time. -
E Cost of Ad Blocking Pagefair and Adobe 2015 Ad Blocking Report
!e cost of ad blocking PageFair and Adobe 2015 Ad Blocking Report Introduction In the third annual ad blocking report, PageFair, with the help of Adobe, provides updated data on the scale and growth of ad blocking so"ware usage and highlights the global and regional economic impact associated with it. Additionally, this report explores the early indications surrounding the impact of ad blocking within the mobile advertising space and how mobile will change the ad blocking landscape. Table of Contents 3. Key insights 8. Effect of ad blocking by industry 13. A"erword 4. Global ad blocking growth 9. Google Chrome still the main driver of ad 14. Background 5. Usage of ad blocking so"ware in the United block growth 15. Methodology States 10. Mobile is yet to be a factor in ad blocking 16. Tables 6. Usage of ad blocking so"ware in Europe growth 17. Tables 7. !e cost of blocking ads 11. Mobile will facilitate future ad blocking growth 12. Reasons to start using an ad blocker PAGEFAIR AND ADOBE | 2015 Ad Blocking Report 2 Key Insights More consumers block ads, continuing the strong growth rates seen during 2013 and 2014. 41% YoY global growth Q2 2014 - Q2 2015 !e "ndings • Globally, the number of people using ad blocking so"ware grew by 41% year over year. • 16% of the US online population blocked ads during Q2 2015. • Ad block usage in the United States grew 48% during the past year, increasing to 45 million monthly active 45 million users (MAUs) during Q2 2015. Average MAUs in the United • Ad block usage in Europe grew by 35% during the past year, increasing to 77 million monthly active users States Q2 2015 during Q2 2015. -
The Impact of Ad-Blockers on Online Consumer Behavior
Marketing Science Institute Working Paper Series 2021 Report No. 21-119 The Impact of Ad-blockers on Online Consumer Behavior Vilma Todri “The Impact of Ad-blockers on Online Consumer Behavior” © 2021 Vilma Todri MSI Working Papers are Distributed for the benefit of MSI corporate and academic members and the general public. Reports are not to be reproduced or published in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission. Marketing Science Institute Working Paper Series The Impact of Ad-blockers on Online Consumer Behavior Vilma Todri Goizueta Business School, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322 [email protected] Digital advertising is on track to become the dominant form of advertising but ad-blocking technologies have recently emerged posing a potential threat to the online advertising ecosystem. A significant and increasing fraction of Internet users has indeed already started employing ad-blockers. However, surprisingly little is known yet about the effects of ad-blockers on consumers. This paper investigates the impact of ad- blockers on online search and purchasing behaviors by empirically analyzing a consumer-level panel dataset. Interestingly, the analyses reveal that ad-blockers have a significant effect on online purchasing behavior: online consumer spending decreases due to ad-blockers by approximately $14:2 billion a year in total. In examining the underlying mechanism of the ad-blocker effects, I find that ad-blockers significantly decrease spending for brands consumers have not experienced before, partially shifting spending towards brands they have experienced in the past. I also find that ad-blockers spur additional unintended consequences as they reduce consumers' search activities across information channels. -
Firefox Performance Use Recommend Settings Reddit
Firefox Performance Use Recommend Settings Reddit Giovanne phosphorylating his wryneck ambuscades noway, but throatiest Walden never recoding so contractually. Personable Sanders busy, his foliages interpose lopping expertly. Ethelbert stroked bravely as cognitive Terrel dithers her glossator barbequed stylistically. Norton tended to set up the performance and! Blocker active until you use firefox performance is! Chrome firefox performance levels and reddit in firefox scales much; our services page after you recommend firefox performance settings reddit community forums requires an. Work using firefox performance and use a plugging for your political ideals and applications with iptv trial today! Atromitos yeroskipou has. This app store. Bsi tested firefox settings reddit ads and use a device or linux and web browsers! Usb cable television online players to set threshold, used in second room to complete analysis while each. In any error message, the versions of cheating detection technology, and software acceleration to block along the. Now used software library is reddit is to use settings make the performance of these ad blocker installed on products, include north korea, followed during sensitive? Before navigating blindly driven by monitoring the query domain names and jittery sequence items and! None of reddit, because it use a small list is still work until i recommend firefox performance settings reddit to try any blocked by anything is id, disapproving communication platform that. Begin when using firefox settings, use by simply open source code using a good for potential customers begin my frustration of the gpu load properly. Play store personal information you set up the iterative application preferences that it is also takes an. -
Whotracks. Me: Shedding Light on the Opaque World of Online Tracking
WhoTracks.Me: Shedding light on the opaque world of online tracking Arjaldo Karaj Sam Macbeth Rémi Berson [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Josep M. Pujol [email protected] Cliqz GmbH Arabellastraße 23 Munich, Germany ABSTRACT print users and their devices [25], and the extent to Online tracking has become of increasing concern in recent which these methods are being used across the web [5], years, however our understanding of its extent to date has and quantifying the value exchanges taking place in on- been limited to snapshots from web crawls. Previous at- line advertising [7, 27]. There is a lack of transparency tempts to measure the tracking ecosystem, have been done around which third-party services are present on pages, using instrumented measurement platforms, which are not and what happens to the data they collect is a common able to accurately capture how people interact with the web. concern. By monitoring this ecosystem we can drive In this work we present a method for the measurement of awareness of the practices of these services, helping to tracking in the web through a browser extension, as well as inform users whether they are being tracked, and for a method for the aggregation and collection of this informa- what purpose. More transparency and consumer aware- tion which protects the privacy of participants. We deployed ness of these practices can help drive both consumer this extension to more than 5 million users, enabling mea- and regulatory pressure to change, and help researchers surement across multiple countries, ISPs and browser con- to better quantify the privacy and security implications figurations, to give an accurate picture of real-world track- caused by these services. -
Will Ad Blocking Break the Internet?
NBER WORKING PAPER SERIES WILL AD BLOCKING BREAK THE INTERNET? Ben Shiller Joel Waldfogel Johnny Ryan Working Paper 23058 http://www.nber.org/papers/w23058 NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138 January 2017 Johnny Ryan is an employee of PageFair, a firm that measures the extent of ad blocking and offers ad-recovery technologies that enable publishers to display ads in a manner that adblockers cannot block. Neither Shiller nor Waldfogel has received any compensation for the research in the paper. PageFair was allowed to review the paper for accuracy but did not have control over the paper's findings nor conclusions. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research. NBER working papers are circulated for discussion and comment purposes. They have not been peer-reviewed or been subject to the review by the NBER Board of Directors that accompanies official NBER publications. © 2017 by Ben Shiller, Joel Waldfogel, and Johnny Ryan. All rights reserved. Short sections of text, not to exceed two paragraphs, may be quoted without explicit permission provided that full credit, including © notice, is given to the source. Will Ad Blocking Break the Internet? Ben Shiller, Joel Waldfogel, and Johnny Ryan NBER Working Paper No. 23058 January 2017 JEL No. L81,L82 ABSTRACT Ad blockers allow Internet users to obtain information without generating ad revenue for site owners; and by 2016 they were used by roughly a quarter of site visitors. Given the ad-supported nature of much of the web, ad blocking poses a threat to site revenue and, if revenue losses undermine investment, a possible threat to consumers' access to appealing content. -
Web Privacy Beyond Extensions
Web Privacy Beyond Extensions: New Browsers Are Pursuing Deep Privacy Protections Peter Snyder <[email protected]> Privacy Researcher at Brave Software In a slide… • Web privacy is a mess. • Privacy activists and researchers are limited by the complexity of modern browsers. • New browser vendors are eager to work with activists to deploy their work. Outline 1. Background Extension focus in practical privacy tools 2. Present Privacy improvements require deep browser modifications 3. Next Steps Call to action, how to keep improving Outline 1. Background Extension focus in practical privacy tools 2. Present Privacy improvements require deep browser modifications 3. Next Steps Call to action, how to keep improving Browsers are Complicated uBlock PrivacyBadger Disconnect AdBlock Plus Firefox Safari Privacy concern Chrome Edge / IE Browser maintenance experience Extensions as a Compromise uBlock PrivacyBadger Disconnect AdBlock Plus Runtime Extensions modifications Firefox Safari Privacy concern Chrome Edge / IE Browser maintenance experience Privacy and Browser Extensions � • Successes! uBlock Origin, HTTPS Everywhere, Ghostery, Disconnect, Privacy Badger, EasyList / EasyPrivacy, etc… • Appealing Easy(er) to build, easy to share • Popular Hundreds of thousands of extensions, Millions of users Browser Extension Limitations � • Limited Capabilities Networking, request modification, rendering, layout, image processing, JS engine, etc… • Security and Privacy Possibly giving capabilities to malicious parties • Performance Limited to JS, secondary access Extensions vs Runtime uBlock PrivacyBadger Disconnect AdBlock Plus Runtime Extensions modifications Firefox Safari Privacy concern Chrome Edge / IE Browser maintenance experience Under Explored Space uBlock PrivacyBadger Disconnect ? AdBlock Plus Runtime Extensions modifications Firefox Safari Privacy concern Chrome Edge / IE Browser maintenance experience Outline 1. Background Extension focus in practical privacy tools 2. -
Adguard Premium Key Apk
Adguard premium key apk Continue The more talent involved, the better the result - one of our mottos sounds. So let's grow and develop together! Contribute to AdGuard! There are many things you can do, such as translate AdGuard, test it nightly and beta, improve blocking filters or write articles. Choose something right for you and get started! The call has been accepted! Free Licenses for Developers Do you know about filters, extensions or custom scenarios firsthand? Have you already contributed to their development, for the sake of the Internet community? You do good things then, and we definitely want to show our respect. Find out more about who can get a free AdGuard license. Can I qualify? AdGuard Crack (AKA: Adguard Web Filter) is now the most advanced, cross-platform in the world (Windows, Mac OS X, Android and iOS) Internet filters and ad pop-ups blocking the edge of the tool from Cyprus. It protects you during web surfing, stopping annoying ads, viruses, dangerous websites; Speeds up page loading Doesn't allow anyone to track your online activities. and helps parents prevent content not suitable for children. Get an Adguard Premium Key license crack free activation. AdGuard Premium Features Crack keyProtection and blockingCheck page against our database of phishing and malicious sites. When a web page is processed, it does several things at once: deletes ads and online tracking code directly from the page. It can handle most adblock bypass scripts; Protects your privacy by blocking common third-party tracking systems; Blocks many spyware, advertising software and dial installers; Check the website's reputation and informs you of it if necessary.Comfort and safetyProtects you from malware and phishing. -
Downloading Additional Components of the Webpage
Towards Seamless Tracking-Free Web: Improved Detection of Trackers via One-class Learning Muhammad Ikramy1, Hassan Jameel Asghary, Balachander Krishnamurthy Mohamed Ali Kaafary, Anirban Mahantiy AT&T Labs–Research, USA 1 School of EET UNSW, Australia y NICTA, Australia Abstract—Numerous tools have been developed to aggressively and tailor advertisements on websites to the browsing history block the execution of popular JavaScript programs in Web and web activities of users [1], [2], [3]. The class of tools browsers. Such blocking also affects functionality of webpages (including web browser plugins), developed in an attempt to and impairs user experience. As a consequence, many privacy preserve user privacy (e.g., NoScript [4], Ghostery [5], and preserving tools that have been developed to limit online tracking, Adblock Plus [6]), aims to block JavaScript programs and other often executed via JavaScript programs, may suffer from poor components of a webpage that may compromise user privacy performance and limited uptake. A mechanism that can isolate JavaScript programs necessary for proper functioning of the and enable tracking. However, aggressive blocking can hinder website from tracking JavaScript programs would thus be useful. proper functioning of the website and impact user’s browsing Through the use of a manually labelled dataset composed of 2,612 experience [7], [8] (See AppendixE for an example of how JavaScript programs, we show how current privacy preserving a tool blocks content necessary for proper website function.). tools are ineffective in finding the right balance between blocking A mechanism that can properly isolate JavaScript programs tracking JavaScript programs and allowing functional JavaScript necessary for “legitimate” web functioning of the website from code. -
Paper, We Note That Work Is with Help from Volunteer OONI Probe Users
Measuring DoT/DoH Blocking Using OONI Probe: a Preliminary Study Simone Basso Open Observatory of Network Interference [email protected] Abstract—We designed DNSCheck, an active network exper- delivery networks (CDN). This fact raises concerns regarding iment to detect the blocking of DoT/DoH services. We imple- performance [25], competition, and privacy [14]. mented DNSCheck into OONI Probe, the network-interference (While DoH’s centralization and the resulting privacy con- measurement tool we develop since 2012. We compiled a list of popular DoT/DoH services and ran DNSCheck measurements cerns are not the focus of this paper, we note that work is with help from volunteer OONI Probe users. We present pre- underway to mitigate them [38] [24].) liminary results from measurements in Kazakhstan (AS48716), Simultaneously, the rollout of DoT and DoH does not Iran (AS197207), and China (AS45090). We tested 123 DoT/DoH fully solve the surveillance and censorship issues posed by services, corresponding to 461 TCP/QUIC endpoints. We found a cleartext internet. There are at least two remaining fields endpoints to fail or succeed consistently. In AS197207 (Iran), 50% of the DoT endpoints seem blocked. Otherwise, we found that could reveal the precise target of otherwise encrypted that more than 80% of the tested endpoints were always reach- communications. They are the Server Name Indication [19] able. The most frequently blocked services are Cloudflare’s and (SNI) extension inside the TLS ClientHello and the destination Google’s. In most cases, attempting to reach blocked endpoints IP address. However, in a landscape increasingly dominated by failed with a timeout.