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Turns out ads aren't just annoying little acts of psychological terrorism that eat up a lot of bandwidth and computing power, they are also the #1 vector for sp

Turns out ads aren't just annoying little acts of psychological terrorism that eat up a lot of bandwidth and computing power, they are also the #1 vector for spreading scams and malware on the web. In other words: If you're trying to improve your security posture, installing an ad-blocker is one of the best things you can do. If you have less tech-savvy friends and relatives, I would strongly recommend setting up uBlock Origin for them.

DowagerDave 2y ago
TIP: I sold my senior mom on uBlock Origin because YT ads are so obnoxious. The added benefits are extra security and performance improvements. She was even able to understand that if something doesn't seem to be working right (like a banking site) "turn it off and try again".
baxtr 2y ago
And at the same time ads are the reason we can use many services for free.
dpkirchner 2y ago
It's to the point that even the US government (even with all its faults and lobbying) recommends using an ad blocker for this reason.
- darknavi 2y ago
  Very interesting! Could you link to that recommendation?
  - joelfried 2y ago
    Here you go: https://www.ic3.gov/Media/Y2022/PSA221221 https://www.ic3.gov/Media/Y2022/PSA221221
slothtrop 2y ago
Why isn't there any market fulfillment for "safe, non-intrusive ads", on the part of a vendor? Is it because it's not possible, or not worth the overhead either because of cost or no effect on consumer behavior/blocking? This seems like it ought to be low-hanging fruit. I would have less aversion to clicking on ads if I did not default to it being a security risk.
- terribleperson 2y ago
  It doesn't seem to be profitable, in part because the internet now consists of mega-sites and if your network doesn't serve ads on the mega-sites, no one is interested in your network. Project Wonderful was a fantastic webcomic-focused ad network. From my perspective as a reader, being shown ads for other webcomics while I'm reading a webcomic was... a positive, really. A lot of webcomic artists ran Project Wonderful ads and nothing else. They shut down in part because of the rise of facebook.
- j5155 2y ago
  They are rare but do exist, see ethicalads and Modrinth’s ad program
  - rsync 2y ago
    They are still third-party ad networks that require a browser to cross multiple domains, etc. etc. etc. I am not ideologically opposed to advertisements but I do believe the only safe ads are first party hosted coming from the same domain.
    - skrtskrt 2y ago
      most people publishing a website either cannot or do not care to host the ad server on the same domain, they just want to monetize the site. things could get a lot better, but this self hosting suggestion in particular will never see wide adoption unless major hosting providers build it and host for their customers. most people don't even bother to self-host/bundle stuff like their fonts and JS libraries unless they have have a JS framework in the loop doing it for them.

DowagerDave 2y ago

TIP: I sold my senior mom on uBlock Origin because YT ads are so obnoxious. The added benefits are extra security and performance improvements. She was even able to understand that if something doesn't seem to be working right (like a banking site) "turn it off and try again".

baxtr 2y ago

And at the same time ads are the reason we can use many services for free.

dpkirchner 2y ago

It's to the point that even the US government (even with all its faults and lobbying) recommends using an ad blocker for this reason.

darknavi 2y ago
Very interesting! Could you link to that recommendation?
- joelfried 2y ago
  Here you go: https://www.ic3.gov/Media/Y2022/PSA221221 https://www.ic3.gov/Media/Y2022/PSA221221

slothtrop 2y ago

Why isn't there any market fulfillment for "safe, non-intrusive ads", on the part of a vendor? Is it because it's not possible, or not worth the overhead either because of cost or no effect on consumer behavior/blocking? This seems like it ought to be low-hanging fruit. I would have less aversion to clicking on ads if I did not default to it being a security risk.

terribleperson 2y ago
It doesn't seem to be profitable, in part because the internet now consists of mega-sites and if your network doesn't serve ads on the mega-sites, no one is interested in your network. Project Wonderful was a fantastic webcomic-focused ad network. From my perspective as a reader, being shown ads for other webcomics while I'm reading a webcomic was... a positive, really. A lot of webcomic artists ran Project Wonderful ads and nothing else. They shut down in part because of the rise of facebook.
j5155 2y ago
They are rare but do exist, see ethicalads and Modrinth’s ad program
- rsync 2y ago
  They are still third-party ad networks that require a browser to cross multiple domains, etc. etc. etc. I am not ideologically opposed to advertisements but I do believe the only safe ads are first party hosted coming from the same domain.
  - skrtskrt 2y ago
    most people publishing a website either cannot or do not care to host the ad server on the same domain, they just want to monetize the site. things could get a lot better, but this self hosting suggestion in particular will never see wide adoption unless major hosting providers build it and host for their customers. most people don't even bother to self-host/bundle stuff like their fonts and JS libraries unless they have have a JS framework in the loop doing it for them.