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Considering this blog comes from the makers of Firefox, they could bundle adblocking software by default.

by blfr 8y ago

dao- 8y ago
Firefox is going to enable tracking protection by default, which is already risky and would currently make many websites with anti-adblocking measures block Firefox by default. Blocking _all_ ads would surely make content providers revolt against Firefox to the point where its viability as a mainstream Web browser would be at risk.
- stirfrykitty 8y ago
  Which is where something like the Pi-hole comes in handy. Defense in depth is the only way to go with this stuff. Like most IT people, I use multiple browsers. I want everything blocked with every browser, not just Firefox (my default). Let's say the advertisers and websites do start giving grief to end users who are proactively protective. I have an idea that I believe can be done, but I'm at a loss with my current skill level to achieve it. Quick anecdote: when Flash was a thing, I used to symlink .adobe and .macromedia to /dev/null to let the Flash cookies "think" they were being written to the HDD, while allowing me to view Flash content without worrying about the LSOs tracking me. I wonder if there is a way, if ads/websites figure out how to block adblockers, that would allow the "loading" of ads, but shunt them into /dev/null (or similar bit bucket) making the website think they have been loaded, but not. A man in the middle, as it were. If I could figure out how to begin this, I would undertake it as a project. Hosting this online and allowing others to pass their traffic through it would be ideal. MitM/proxy. Methinks it will eventually come to this if enough people continue to add blocking tools to their tool set. Any ideas?
  - cpeterso 8y ago
    "AdNauseam" is a Firefox add-on that blocks ads but also virtually clicks each blocked ad in the background, polluting trackers' profile of your browsing habits. I haven't used this add-on but some reviews say that its ad blocking doesn't work as expected. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/adnauseam/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/adnauseam/
    - stirfrykitty 8y ago
      Thank you. Didn't know this existed. I like the idea behind it. Polluting the ad peddlers' database is actually hilarious. It must get expensive to be serving up ads no one is seeing.

Considering this blog comes from the makers of Firefox, they could bundle adblocking software by default.

by blfr 8y ago

Considering this blog comes from the makers of Firefox, they could bundle adblocking software by default.

dao- 8y ago

Firefox is going to enable tracking protection by default, which is already risky and would currently make many websites with anti-adblocking measures block Firefox by default. Blocking _all_ ads would surely make content providers revolt against Firefox to the point where its viability as a mainstream Web browser would be at risk.

stirfrykitty 8y ago
Which is where something like the Pi-hole comes in handy. Defense in depth is the only way to go with this stuff. Like most IT people, I use multiple browsers. I want everything blocked with every browser, not just Firefox (my default). Let's say the advertisers and websites do start giving grief to end users who are proactively protective. I have an idea that I believe can be done, but I'm at a loss with my current skill level to achieve it. Quick anecdote: when Flash was a thing, I used to symlink .adobe and .macromedia to /dev/null to let the Flash cookies "think" they were being written to the HDD, while allowing me to view Flash content without worrying about the LSOs tracking me. I wonder if there is a way, if ads/websites figure out how to block adblockers, that would allow the "loading" of ads, but shunt them into /dev/null (or similar bit bucket) making the website think they have been loaded, but not. A man in the middle, as it were. If I could figure out how to begin this, I would undertake it as a project. Hosting this online and allowing others to pass their traffic through it would be ideal. MitM/proxy. Methinks it will eventually come to this if enough people continue to add blocking tools to their tool set. Any ideas?
- cpeterso 8y ago
  "AdNauseam" is a Firefox add-on that blocks ads but also virtually clicks each blocked ad in the background, polluting trackers' profile of your browsing habits. I haven't used this add-on but some reviews say that its ad blocking doesn't work as expected. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/adnauseam/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/adnauseam/
  - stirfrykitty 8y ago
    Thank you. Didn't know this existed. I like the idea behind it. Polluting the ad peddlers' database is actually hilarious. It must get expensive to be serving up ads no one is seeing.