Exactly. The ads aren't just passive images or video, they're also actively trying to weasel information out of your personal device. Fits the definition of sp

Exactly. The ads aren't just passive images or video, they're also actively trying to weasel information out of your personal device. Fits the definition of spyware. The larger problem is that this behaviour has been normalised to such a degree that "the world wide web" as a whole could be described as spyware.