Far above and beyond issues of privacy and attention, my primary concern with internet ads today is malicious content. There is simply too high a volume of dece

Far above and beyond issues of privacy and attention, my primary concern with internet ads today is malicious content. There is simply too high a volume of deceptive—or outright malware-laden—ads to feel comfortable allowing them to render in my browser. It’s not even an edge case hiding in dark corners of the internet, search ads at the top of Google results are consistently used for phishing and other fraud. The incentives are all wrong for ad networks to address the issue. As long as websites use third-party networks which themselves let anyone sign up and buy ads, it will continue. Doing too much vetting of ads or KYC on advertisers cuts into the bottom line. I don’t think all that much about privacy issues with ad measurement, because all of my browsers, those of the friends and family I advise, and those of the companies whose security policies I am responsible for, will block ads for the foreseeable future.