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I'd argue that >50% of bytes on the web are malicious. We're past the point where it still makes sense to attempt to load the page and just block the bad parts.
by __MatrixMan__ 4y ago
I'd argue that >50% of bytes on the web are malicious. We're past the point where it still makes sense to attempt to load the page and just block the bad parts. Ad blockers are bringing a knife to a gun fight.
I'd like to find a way to crowd source an unauthorized CDN for just the good parts. Maybe the ads need to be rendered once by a server somewhere so we can extract the content from the page, but after that we ought to be able to gossip content that's been pre-stripped of ads.
The web of trust that would be needed to make the gossiping safe can also help us figure out who to pay.
- username223 4y agoI wouldn't call it "malicious," but way more than 50% of what you download is stuff you don't want. For example, a random NY Times op-ed has 6730 characters of text, bur just the initial request is 454kb, so 98.5% of what you downloaded is overhead. Some of that is formatting markup, but probably 95% of it is junk. And that's just the initial request, which in turn pulls in the images, tracking scripts, and ads. In the end, probably 99% of what you downloaded to read those 6730 characters is stuff you didn't want.
- __MatrixMan__ 4y ago"stuff you didn't want" would be accidentally recorded background noise, or code that makes the payload compatible with a device other than the one you're using. This is data specifically crafted to get your computer to do something in addition to what you asked it to do, without your consent, and not in a way that benefits you The word for data like that is "malware".