4 ms·

Is there some place with a technical writeup of what YT are doing to frustrate circumvention so effectively?

by dmw_ng 3y ago

thaumasiotes 3y ago
Effectively? I've been using uBlock Origin the whole time. Whatever YouTube is doing, it cannot be accurately described as "effective".
- piva00 3y ago
  I didn't even notice that my YouTube Premium Lite subscription had been terminated for about a month, YT decided to not offer that type of subscription anymore and I'm not willing to pay more for YT Premium, uBlock Origin is working flawlessly.
- solumunus 3y ago
  I think they’re still doing split testing.
  - thaumasiotes 3y ago
    They're not doing anything effective. What does split testing have to do with it? You might want to see my other comment, here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38542185 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38542185
    - ehvatum 3y ago
      “Can be bypassed” does not necessarily mean ineffective, when the goal is to change behavior. Do people typically respond to the YouTube anti-blocking threat prompt by disabling their ad blocker entirely, or by enhancing their ad blocking?
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
SiempreViernes 3y ago
I think they are just updating their measures frequently, so not really anything technical. In other words: Youtube is continuously spending a lot of money to put out new patches block the latest circumventions.
- brookst 3y ago
  Not sure it’s a lot of money. Probably just an algorithm to generate variations of the anti Adblock code. At most, polymorphic code inspired by malware.
  - guerrilla 3y ago
    > At most, polymorphic code inspired by malware. If it quacks like a duck...
    - hunter2_ 3y ago
      Adware has always been a type of malware, even without polymorphic code or other evasion.
- Ekaros 3y ago
  I actually wonder what is the balance between maybe a small team of software engineers finding way to block adblock vs generate revenue for periods when they are successful. In the end it really is question that when they manage to block adblock do they make more money than they spend in effort.
  - hunter2_ 3y ago
    This effort is confined to YouTube, but the return of someone uninstalling an ad blocker (the user's response could be more targeted, but some will fully uninstall) reaches Google more broadly.
    - chii 3y ago
      I'd imagine the user would not uninstall the adblocker, just disable it for YouTube.

Is there some place with a technical writeup of what YT are doing to frustrate circumvention so effectively?

by dmw_ng 3y ago

Is there some place with a technical writeup of what YT are doing to frustrate circumvention so effectively?

Effectively? I've been using uBlock Origin the whole time. Whatever YouTube is doing, it cannot be accurately described as "effective".

piva00 3y ago
I didn't even notice that my YouTube Premium Lite subscription had been terminated for about a month, YT decided to not offer that type of subscription anymore and I'm not willing to pay more for YT Premium, uBlock Origin is working flawlessly.
solumunus 3y ago
I think they’re still doing split testing.
- thaumasiotes 3y ago
  They're not doing anything effective. What does split testing have to do with it? You might want to see my other comment, here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38542185 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38542185
  - ehvatum 3y ago
    “Can be bypassed” does not necessarily mean ineffective, when the goal is to change behavior. Do people typically respond to the YouTube anti-blocking threat prompt by disabling their ad blocker entirely, or by enhancing their ad blocking?
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]

SiempreViernes 3y ago

I think they are just updating their measures frequently, so not really anything technical. In other words: Youtube is continuously spending a lot of money to put out new patches block the latest circumventions.

brookst 3y ago
Not sure it’s a lot of money. Probably just an algorithm to generate variations of the anti Adblock code. At most, polymorphic code inspired by malware.
- guerrilla 3y ago
  > At most, polymorphic code inspired by malware. If it quacks like a duck...
  - hunter2_ 3y ago
    Adware has always been a type of malware, even without polymorphic code or other evasion.
Ekaros 3y ago
I actually wonder what is the balance between maybe a small team of software engineers finding way to block adblock vs generate revenue for periods when they are successful. In the end it really is question that when they manage to block adblock do they make more money than they spend in effort.
- hunter2_ 3y ago
  This effort is confined to YouTube, but the return of someone uninstalling an ad blocker (the user's response could be more targeted, but some will fully uninstall) reaches Google more broadly.
  - chii 3y ago
    I'd imagine the user would not uninstall the adblocker, just disable it for YouTube.