* Posts by B W

2 publicly visible posts • joined 28 Mar 2024

Majority of Americans now use ad blockers

B W
Linux

Re: I use ad blocker at home but....

At work, perhaps a Pi-hole would help. Just stick it between your computer and the network.

For the guilt, allow "acceptable ads" and if El Reg isn't showing any, that's on them.

For the data exfiltration... Well, I'm not sure I can help with that.

B W
Go

I allow "acceptable ads"

I think AdBlockPlus (ABP) got it right that as long as blockers default to zero ads, websites have little choice but to try to defeat them. It's an arms race which nobody wins.

ABP has the ability to block all ads, but it defaults to allowing ads that aren't a nuisance. No big banners, no animation, no JavaScript.

I left "acceptable ads" on and, frankly, I'm disappointed in how few ads I see. That means advertisers still haven't realized that being annoying is getting them blocked. Just by having a reasonable ad, they could reach many people like me with almost no competition for attention.

* * * *

Of course, the wildcard coming up soon will be the new version of Chrome coming out which will put the tracking in the browser and limit the ability of adblockers to work for "security". Google claims it is doing it for our own good, but Mozilla disagrees that it is necessary. For now, I'll be running Firefox.