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Ask Slashdot: Are AdBlock's Days Numbered?
An anonymous reader writes "This article discusses the ethics and the mechanics of ad-blocking software. Toward the end, it goes into some of the tech that's been built to circumvent ad blockers. Quoting: 'PageFair offers a free JavaScript program that, when inserted into a Web page, monitors ad blocking activity. CEO Sean Blanchfield says he developed the monitoring tool after he noticed a problem on his own multiplayer gaming site. PageFair collects statistics on ad blocking activity, identifies which users are blocking ads and can display an appeal to users to add the publisher's website to their ad-blocking tool's personal whitelist. But Blanchfield acknowledges that the user appeal approach hasn't been very effective. ClarityRay takes a more active role. Like PageFair, it provides a tool that lets publishers monitor blocking activity to show them that they have a problem — and then sells them a remedy. ClarityRay offers a service that CEO Ido Yablonka says fools ad blockers into allowing ads through. "Ad blockers try to make a distinction between content elements and advertorial elements. We make that distinction impossible," he says.' Is this arms race winnable? By which side?"
"Ad blockers try to make a distinction between content elements and advertorial elements. We make that distinction impossible,"
So long as you're hosting your ads off-site, or even on a local (ad.example.com) server, we'll be able to block them.
the problem is that we are seeing an increase in sites that will pop up with a separate page and wont let you see ANY content until you stop using an adblocker. luckily those are mostly used on bad sites, but if they ever become popular it will be a problem.
but there are ad filters that start to do the load but don't display. I'm betting the geek developer will always win against marketing droids
More subtle than Noscript: Ghostery.
The hilarious thing about many of those sites is that the "block" is just a layer in front of the actual content. Firefox's built-in "inspect element" is usually enough to remove it and get to the content.
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
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