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It's being reported on HackerNews that the Pale Moon Browser is blocking the AdNauseum extension, an ad blocking extension designed to obfuscate browsing data and protect users from tracking by advertising networks.
The main story link is to the Pale Moon Forum which summarises the issue as follows:
After investigating the AdNauseam extension's behavior and the results for web publishers, the extension has been added to the Pale Moon blocklist with a severity level of 2 (meaning you won't be able to enable it unless you increase the blocking level in about:config to 3). For those unfamiliar with this extension: it generates false ad "clicks" to ad servers in an attempt to generate "noise" for the ad networks in a protest against the advertising network system as a whole.
While the premise behind this is similar to poisoning trackers with false fingerprints (which we are proponents of, ourselves), and we normally let users decide for themselves what they want to do with their browser, we are strictly against allowing extensions that cause direct damage (including damage to third parties). There is a subtle but important difference between blocking content and generating fake user interaction.
[...] Because this extension causes direct and indirect economic damage to website owners, it is classified as malware, and as such blocked.
From the forum threads this decision has been slightly controversial with some users.
If you're not familiar with Pale Moon, it is an Open Source web browser, forked from a mature Mozilla code release, and has been covered on SN before.
[Update: Added text re: blocking level; bolded text that was bold in the original posting. --martyb]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 28 2017, @05:29PM (10 children)
Close, but no. The premise here is not that the ad networks will crumble, but that they will refuse to pay bloggers for all or a disproportionate percentage of views or clicks, using the fact that a few clicks are fake as an excuse. (Which, yes, is exactly what they will do, and they'll do it while continuing to receive payment for displaying the ads. Ad networks are a bunch of scummy bastards.) This is different from ad-blockers, because in that case the ad network doesn't get the "fake clicks" excuse to rip people off, and has to find some other excuse. (And don't worry, they will!)
The question, of course, is who's to blame? Users of AdNauseum would no doubt claim either the ad networks (for withholding pay) or the bloggers themselves (for getting in bed with ad networks in the first place) are to blame. Moonchild (Pale Moon's overlord) claims that people using AdNauseum are responsible, because without their fake clicks, it wouldn't have happened. I don't completely disagree with any of them. (The great thing about not seeing everything as zero-sum games, I can blame everyone all at once!)
(Score: 4, Interesting) by TheGratefulNet on Monday August 28 2017, @05:45PM (9 children)
good!
shake this shit up.
the web is broken by all this 'advertising' and I WANT to shake up this status quo.
the sooner the whole model crashes the better. then, we can RETHINK how the web should be.
yes, I want it all to crash and fall apart. it needs to be redone. and I see advertisers as the enemy, so I have no problem doing what it takes (short of phys harm) to fuck them over.
they could not care less about me, afterall.
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
(Score: 4, Funny) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday August 28 2017, @07:16PM (8 children)
But... How will SN continue if we can't get advertising revenue?!
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by TheGratefulNet on Monday August 28 2017, @07:27PM (7 children)
micropayments.
the thing that everyone gave up on, but is still a really good idea.
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 28 2017, @08:43PM (2 children)
Subscribe like the other people here seems like a good idea.
I don't know what micropayment you're willing to make--will it be to mod those you don't like, to read what you do like, or to get access to a filter to what you don't like to not be presented, so that you wouldn't have to bother modding it down?
Sadly sites dont often pay for themselves, even if content is king. Micropayments don't scale too well on a small site, too, and I am not going to pay to post. People gotta read my shit for free!
(Score: 3, Touché) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday August 28 2017, @09:34PM (1 child)
Is this one of them "You get what you pay for," situations?
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 3, Funny) by MostCynical on Monday August 28 2017, @11:52PM
I'm not sure I'm getting my money's worth. I demand a refund!
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday August 28 2017, @09:35PM (3 children)
I think we'll probably stick with subscriptions for now. I haven't really seen a good use case for micropayments proposed that'd work for us yet.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by edIII on Monday August 28 2017, @10:29PM (2 children)
Funny thing is, I wouldn't object to sane advertisements on Soylent. Meaning, no adfarms, 3rd party JS bullshit, etc. Just a simple agreement directly with the manufacturer. I know of a site, soma.fm, that encourages people to buy from Amazon using their code which gives them a small percentage. If I was going to purchase a bunch of hardware off Amazon, I would love if a small amount made it here.
Maybe not traditional ads, but limited promotions and that sort of thing. Where it's in our benefit to keep checking Soylent for any new deals coming up.
It's either that or you, a webcam, some candles, and a gallon of thousand island dressing.....
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday August 28 2017, @11:24PM
Worth keeping in mind if the subscription model starts running too tight.
Think I'll stick with ranch though. Better contrast with my coloring.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by urza9814 on Tuesday August 29 2017, @03:39PM
Agreed. And personally I might even go a bit further?
I subscribe to a number of "vlogs" and other video channels that have advertising baked into the video. Companies like Jupiter Broadcasting do this very well -- they've got their news video, and periodically they'll take thirty seconds and the hosts themselves will sit there reading an ad for Digital Ocean or System76 or whatever. The hosts -- the people I already trust if I'm regularly watching those videos -- are personally screening those ads. As far as I know, they only advertise stuff they use themselves. They're the ones reciting it. If they think it's bullshit, hopefully they'll refuse the offer. And if they obviously sell out, I'll stop watching their videos. If one day I see them sitting there screaming about how great WalMart is, I'm out, and so are half their viewers, and I'm sure they know it. Otherwise, it's not that annoying. I understand that it supports the show, they tend to make it funny or entertaining to fit their style, and they pick companies they know their audience might be interested in. I've used Digital Ocean because of them (although I didn't even fully use the free credit...I'll stick with Gandi). My parents are using Ting because of them (they might switch away though as the service isn't ideal out there in the middle of nowhere...but they love the pricing). I bought a System76 laptop because of them (and couldn't be happier with it!) But that's a vastly different situation than having some Google algorithm trying to automatically match my preferences with the site I'm reading with the advertisers buying ad space. And it's also vastly different from having the ads served by some random third party that's doing everything they can to siphon additional data from my machine. THOSE assholes get blocked at the router.
There certainly are good reasons for advertising supported content, and I can recognize that...but what's absolutely inexcusable is when sites refuse to take any responsibility for the ads they serve. I block ads by IP address, so if they're coming from your own servers, I either trust the ads because I trust you or I block the whole damn thing.