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posted by n1 on Monday October 27 2014, @11:53PM   Printer-friendly
from the advertising-arms-race dept.

The next shot in the advertising/blocking war. AdNauseam is a FireFox plug-in, currently in beta, that works in conjunction with AdBlock and clicks ads while it blocks them.

The project was "initiated" by Helen Nissenbaum, Professor of Media, Culture and Communication, and Computer Science, at New York University.

As online advertising is becoming more automatic, universal and unsanctioned, AdNauseam works to complete the cycle by automating all ad-clicks universally and blindly on behalf of the target audience. Working in coordination with Ad Block Plus, AdNauseam quietly clicks every blocked ad, registering a visit on the ad networks databases. As the data gathered shows an omnivorous click-stream, user profiling, targeting and surveillance becomes futile.

They also state "AdNauseam serves as a means of amplifying users' discontent with advertising networks that disregard privacy and facilitate bulk surveillance agendas".

Will this help things with online advertising, or make them worse, assuming that's possible?

 
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  • (Score: 2) by Snotnose on Tuesday October 28 2014, @02:59AM

    by Snotnose (1623) on Tuesday October 28 2014, @02:59AM (#110736)

    Came here to say this. Not to mention a lot of sites have rather dodgy ads, clicking on them at work could result in a visit from IT and HR.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 28 2014, @04:56AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 28 2014, @04:56AM (#110759)

    a decent IT department should have centralized adblocking not letting any of the ad junk into the company at all

  • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Tuesday October 28 2014, @05:24PM

    by FatPhil (863) <reversethis-{if.fdsa} {ta} {tnelyos-cp}> on Tuesday October 28 2014, @05:24PM (#110906) Homepage
    But does "I have AdNauseum installed" count as plausible deniability now?
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