We've got some really bad news about Apple's privacy measures, Google tells iOS app devs: It'll hurt your Google ad revenue Google on Wednesday warned iOS developers who use Google ad technology that they may see less revenue as Apple implements its privacy clampdown. Apple's App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework, said Christophe Combette, group product manager for Google Ads, in a blog post, "will reduce visibility into key metrics that show …
It still baffles me that they're using targetted adds as an argument. I'm old, I've been on the internet for quite a long time, targetted adds were never an issue, until recently. Businesses were able to find me without having to collect ungodly amounts of data on me, they merely had more competition and weren't able to target me personally, I don't see the problem there. I see the problem for the add providers, but fuck them. Sideways. With a rake.
When GDPR came into effect, Google added a toggle in Adsense where you could set that behavioural targeting/profiling not be used for ads on your content.
I enabled that, so ads became relevant to the content on the page they're being served on (well, at least as long as Google has indexed it at some point).
My ad revenue and click rate increased, because the ads started actually being relevant to what the user was looking at/thinking about now, rather than being targeted based on something they browsed whilst pissed 2 weeks ago.
Personally, I'm fairly sure that Behavioural Targeting is snake-oil that ad brokers like Google oversell the benefits of to keep the competition out and to milk their customers of extra money.
If I look at a product while I'm logged in to Amazon (which I always do in a private Firefox window on my Linux PC) and later that day visit Facebook (which always do via the app on my iPhone) I will see Facebook ads related to what I looked at on Amazon about half the time.
Even though shopping Amazon on my phone is inconvenient due to the small screen size, after this change I might download the Amazon app and do so - because they will no longer be able to share information with each other and creep me out like that!
I'm prepared to believe that things go better with Coke.
And that the Ayatollah tells a darn good knock-knock joke.
I believe that some folks can hear what Bugs Bunny is saying.
And that Salt Lake City is a real nice place to stay in.
I believe that J.R. really loves Sue Ellen!
I believe that things sound better when you're yelling!
And I believe that the devil is ready to repent!
But I can't believe this is making me want to buy an iPhone!
Thanks for the reminder - I had to go and look it up again: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmWLJmbytkk
You're welcome.
I'm just glad that you weren't being reminded of another of their hits! - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3rnC712MEw
Yes, it is a little strange thinking that maybe Apple has got something here with regard to tracking.
It is also true that when you have as much money as Apple has you can be cavalier with the likes of Google and Facebook as you have as nasty a set of lawyers as they have.
So Google and Facebook don't like taking on someone their own size. The mark of a bully.
Next, Apple needs to do something about the games on their platform popping up a full screen Ads everything you complete a level or something.
Some games are more like "Advert Apps" then an actual game since they pop up after every level and last longer than actually playing the level.
The "close button" needs to be a lot bigger and in the same location. They practically hiding the damn thing.
As well as stop the Ad from opening App Store to download the game when you press the close button.
Also reduce the time limit of the Ad being displayed from 30 seconds to something like 10 seconds then show the close button to cancel the Ad.
Try a PiHole as your DNS resolver!
When I'm not on my home WiFi I get reminded of how intrusive Ads on any platform have become (e.g. AnyClip).
My wife thought she had accidentally purchased the premium version of an App as the volume of ads had reduced so much just after I set it up.
I'm not against funding app developers for apps that we use, but intrusive (especially video apps) ads can just go and piss up a rope as far as I am concerned..
I’ve got AdGuard on all my internet facing kit - what are adverts?
Seriously, it blocks all ads that haven’t been embedded in a page or app itself. I occasionally turn it off to see what it’s blocking and have been quite taken aback at how much that is. Even El Reg.
Also, on mobiles, it runs as a virtual VPN which means it filters traffic from individual apps and not just via the browser. They’re also releasing full-blown VPN apps that include ad blocking...
That is all well and good but increasingly sites are preventing access if you use an Ad Blocked. When that happens I just go somewhere else however if more start doing this it will be difficult to see where it goes.
The trouble is that most people just don't care agreeing to all the cookies and have no idea what an AD Blocker is.
Potentially the next step will be some sort of premium Internet service provided by Google that reduces the ad content but makes up for it by charging a subscription.
Best piece of kit on my network. It is absolutely shocking the amount of 'phone home' which goes on from all the little widgets that are not in use. "Smart" TV talking to the mothership when no 'smart' features are enabled and it is on HDMI1 - what the heck is it reporting??
As for advertisements... I find it no small coincidence that the Chrome & Firefox are suddenly hot on DNS over HTTPS (DoH). That goes right around my local DNS which is filtering their ads & trackers. Of course, they say it is to keep the ISP from snooping.... Right. Because the ISP is who slurps & sells data on me - not Google. So far the browsers still allow me to turn off DoH, I dread the day they insist on owning my browser DNS.
"Some games are more like "Advert Apps" then an actual game..."
Blame the developers for that one. Between 2010 and 2015 I made a bunch of mobile games: during the time I dabbled with ads, I made sure that they did not disrupt the flow of the gameplay. So the frequency of ads is pure designer/developer greed.
Worse still are the mobile "games" that will not start if they cannot connect to the internet: instant uninstall...
Especially the ones that have the "invisible" close button, or the 15 second count down before you can close it, etc. We fought a long battle in the PC world to eradicate such ads, now we have to fight the battle all over again on phones.
The problem is basically solved in Safari, since you can use an ad blocker. But short of an external ad blocker like pi hole (which has its own downsides and isn't something a non technical person could ever set up) there isn't a way around this.
If the Epic etc. are successful in making Apple drop the 30% cut or allow "alternate" app stores, Apple should respond by building an ad blocker into the network layer of the OS - basically pi hole inside your phone. That would be a fun war to watch!
Maybe Apple could front run it by offering a smaller cut to "certified ad free" apps? They can charge a small amount and/or do in-app purchases to fund themselves - I always choose an ad free app for a few bucks over one with annoying ads, but sometimes you don't get the choice or the "ad free" version is lumped in with a lot of other features you don't want that are like $5/month. I don't like ads, but I'd have to really hate them to pay $60/year to avoid them on one app!
"Google on Wednesday warned iOS developers who use Google ad technology that they may see less revenue as Apple implements its privacy clampdown.
In other words, Googles drive to make Chromium more privacy friendly is a load of bollocks. If they want to restrict cookies, and user-agent fingeprinting, it's only because they have other methods of tracking....
Well, the mere fact that Chromium contains Googly bits makes it in my eyes more and more attractive, especially in the light of Google's current attempts to hang on to its easy revenue through "creative acquisition" of people's personal details.
That said, Firefox's WebRTC capability has finally arrived at a point where I could possibly discard Chromium, being the best for WebRTC was really the only reason to have Chromium on my system.
Yes, those are fair points.
However, personally, I want to use Google bookmark and password sync, especially as chromium isn't available in some of the devices I user Chrome on.
As for webrtc, isn't that the feature which can leak your IP address? Useful for fingerprinting if you use an IP such as 172.24.3 77
Even before I had an ad blocker, I don't recall ever clicking on an ad. Nor replying to spam, be it by fax, phone, mail or email. I'll search for what I want or need at my sole convenience. In the meantime, lots of businesses are just wasting their money to ad brokers. On the other hand, it's cheaper to advertise junk than to make good products...
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