5 ms·

Google's monopoly status means it fulfills 90+% of the ads. I can guarantee you that CNN has no control. There is no competition. So, erm, maybe the onus is on

Google's monopoly status means it fulfills 90+% of the ads. I can guarantee you that CNN has no control. There is no competition. So, erm, maybe the onus is on Google?

mikeash 8y ago
Surely a company as big as CNN can run their own ad service instead of contracting it out. Do they pass the buck like this for ads on their TV channel?
- j-c-hewitt 8y ago
  They probably do run it. Just they are looking for the highest paying ads that don't have a boob in them or a penis. If the highest paying ad is a keylogger, that's generally not what they're looking for when they're filtering it out.
lolsal 8y ago
CNN absolutely has control. CNN could vote with their dollars and use a different ad platform.
- microdrum 8y ago
  Which other ad server and ad intermediation service would you recommend?
  - lolsal 8y ago
    I don't know, I'm not in the business of specifying and choosing ad services.
    - microdrum 8y ago
      I think you could name multiple competitive players in lots of areas that aren't your core business. You can't name any others in ad services because Google is a monopolist.
      - lolsal 8y ago
        > I think you could name multiple competitive players in lots of areas that aren't your core business. You can't name any others in ad services because Google is a monopolist. That is totally silly - What in the world makes you think I think about the advertisement industry more than the absolute minimum amount possible? Anyway, the other options are: - They run their own ad platform - They don't run ads
oh_sigh 8y ago
Google ads container keyloggers? I doubt that.
- mcny 8y ago
  > Google ads container keyloggers? I doubt that. Just to be clear, I think they are talking about advertisements placed via Google's platform, not ad campaigns by Google. I think there is only one way to solve this: programmatic ads cannot contain executable code (no access to local storage or network) and ads must come from the same origin as the page they are on. For example, YouTube will host an ad for Subaru on YouTube's servers. The sticking point as people have pointed to me before on HN is fraud. The customer (in this case Subaru) does not trust Google to be honest in counting the number of impressions. Perhaps what we need is legislation banning this behavior across the board. When no ad vendor is able to allow customers to do what they please on user's web browsers, the customer has no recourse other than to accept that this is not possible. I don't know how such a legislation would work though. Perhaps it needs to be an industry alliance instead of legislation?
  - oh_sigh 8y ago
    Again, I still doubt that Google places ads with key loggers via their platform. Maybe I misunderstand something about how they operate though, and I can't recreate anything close to what the original article shows. In fact, I can't even load cnn.com right now.
- reilly3000 8y ago
  It is possible, and thus against their policy, and thus invites the worst of the web to circumvent their detection systems. https://support.google.com/adwordspolicy/answer/6020954?hl=en https://support.google.com/adwordspolicy/answer/6020954?hl=e...
Zyst 8y ago
Is this confirmed to be Google ads? Because otherwise the comment is needlessly misleading.
- bitmapbrother 8y ago
  According to a comment below the JavaScript originated from CNN and was likely used for debugging.
bitmapbrother 8y ago
Do you have any proof that the ad was served by Google or are you just guessing? I was under the impression they had checks to prevent this.
- microdrum 8y ago
  Tons of malvertising comes through Google. When one company owns the whole space, finding just one vulnerability is enormously economically attractive.
  - bitmapbrother 8y ago
    >Tons of malvertising comes through Google. Can you cite that as your previous accusation was already proven to be incorrect. >When one company owns the whole space, finding just one vulnerability is enormously economically attractive. Google doesn't own the whole space.

Google's monopoly status means it fulfills 90+% of the ads. I can guarantee you that CNN has no control. There is no competition. So, erm, maybe the onus is on Google?

mikeash 8y ago

Surely a company as big as CNN can run their own ad service instead of contracting it out. Do they pass the buck like this for ads on their TV channel?

j-c-hewitt 8y ago
They probably do run it. Just they are looking for the highest paying ads that don't have a boob in them or a penis. If the highest paying ad is a keylogger, that's generally not what they're looking for when they're filtering it out.

lolsal 8y ago

CNN absolutely has control. CNN could vote with their dollars and use a different ad platform.

microdrum 8y ago
Which other ad server and ad intermediation service would you recommend?
- lolsal 8y ago
  I don't know, I'm not in the business of specifying and choosing ad services.
  - microdrum 8y ago
    I think you could name multiple competitive players in lots of areas that aren't your core business. You can't name any others in ad services because Google is a monopolist.
    - lolsal 8y ago
      > I think you could name multiple competitive players in lots of areas that aren't your core business. You can't name any others in ad services because Google is a monopolist. That is totally silly - What in the world makes you think I think about the advertisement industry more than the absolute minimum amount possible? Anyway, the other options are: - They run their own ad platform - They don't run ads

oh_sigh 8y ago

Google ads container keyloggers? I doubt that.

mcny 8y ago
> Google ads container keyloggers? I doubt that. Just to be clear, I think they are talking about advertisements placed via Google's platform, not ad campaigns by Google. I think there is only one way to solve this: programmatic ads cannot contain executable code (no access to local storage or network) and ads must come from the same origin as the page they are on. For example, YouTube will host an ad for Subaru on YouTube's servers. The sticking point as people have pointed to me before on HN is fraud. The customer (in this case Subaru) does not trust Google to be honest in counting the number of impressions. Perhaps what we need is legislation banning this behavior across the board. When no ad vendor is able to allow customers to do what they please on user's web browsers, the customer has no recourse other than to accept that this is not possible. I don't know how such a legislation would work though. Perhaps it needs to be an industry alliance instead of legislation?
- oh_sigh 8y ago
  Again, I still doubt that Google places ads with key loggers via their platform. Maybe I misunderstand something about how they operate though, and I can't recreate anything close to what the original article shows. In fact, I can't even load cnn.com right now.
reilly3000 8y ago
It is possible, and thus against their policy, and thus invites the worst of the web to circumvent their detection systems. https://support.google.com/adwordspolicy/answer/6020954?hl=en https://support.google.com/adwordspolicy/answer/6020954?hl=e...

Zyst 8y ago

Is this confirmed to be Google ads? Because otherwise the comment is needlessly misleading.

bitmapbrother 8y ago
According to a comment below the JavaScript originated from CNN and was likely used for debugging.

bitmapbrother 8y ago

Do you have any proof that the ad was served by Google or are you just guessing? I was under the impression they had checks to prevent this.

microdrum 8y ago
Tons of malvertising comes through Google. When one company owns the whole space, finding just one vulnerability is enormously economically attractive.
- bitmapbrother 8y ago
  >Tons of malvertising comes through Google. Can you cite that as your previous accusation was already proven to be incorrect. >When one company owns the whole space, finding just one vulnerability is enormously economically attractive. Google doesn't own the whole space.