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Facebook Rolls Out Code To Nullify Adblock Plus' Workaround (techcrunch.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the cat-and-mouse dept.

An anonymous reader writes: The Wall Street Journal issued a report Tuesday that said Facebook will begin forcing ads to appear for all users of its desktop site, even if they use ad-blocking software. Adblock Plus, the most popular ad-blocking software, opposed Facebook's plan and found a workaround to Facebook's revision two days later. Now, TechCrunch is reporting that Facebook is well aware of Adblock Plus' workaround and their "plan to address the issue" is coming quick. "A source close to Facebook tells [TechCrunch] that today possibly within hours, the company will push an update to its site's code that will nullify Adblock Plus' workaround," reports TechCrunch. "Apparently it took two days for Adblock Plus to come up with the workaround, and only a fraction of that time for Facebook to disable it." An update on their site says, "A source says Facebook is now rolling out the code update that will disable Adblock Plus' workaround. It should reach all users soon."

6 of 426 comments (clear)

  1. And so continues.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This game of cat and mouse

    1. Re: And so continues.. by peragrin · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Once a year I go car shopping whether I am looking to buy or not. Yet for months afterwards I am inundated with car ads. I had to lookup an old stereo cable for work yet now I get all sorts of ads for cables and electronics.

      I have never once purposely clicked on a web ad and I never will. Even if the ad ha something I want I refuse to click on the ad and go directly to the manufacturers website. When search google I never click on the ad sponsored links and instead go right to the company's site.

      All advertisers are scumbags that make used carsalesmen look nice. I avoid both like the plague.

      --
      i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
  2. Re:Facebook is still a thing? by thesupraman · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Because kids around the age of 16 have never before told their parents one thing while doing another?

    Did you life a particularly sheltered life? Because I am pretty sure that has been normal for at least several thousand years, and hardly an Online Generation thing.

  3. Re:Avoiding malware-laden ads by bv728 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Facebook is, allegedly, attempting to do the whole 'trusted ad' thing with their bypass - they vet ads, they're served from Facebook servers, they don't allow JS, Flash, or other active content. Which ignores malicious images and buggy browser render engines which can allow them to run arbitrary code. So, you know, +5 for good intentions, -100000000 for failing to understand the attack surface.

  4. There's an easy solution to this by squiggleslash · · Score: 5, Insightful

    All Facebook has to do is put up a wall if you're running an ad-blocker that says "You must disable your ad blocker to view this site." Ad Block Plus doesn't seem to do "workarounds" for those types of blocks, it's what other sites that absolutely insist you must see their advertising does, and most importantly it respects the preference of the user to not see ads.

    Something that says "Oh, you're running an ad blocker? Well we're going to force you to view ads anyway!" is like having a concert at a park, and dealing with people who want to stand outside the park and listen to it for free by picking their pockets. If you really feel that you don't want people to see your stuff without "paying" (viewing ads or whatever), make that a condition of viewing your stuff, don't force them to pay when they don't want to.

    I'm 100% with Adblock/U-block/etc on this. And as I've said before, I think they need to go nuclear on this if Facebook doesn't relent - if they continue to try to bypass ad-blocking plugins, then it's time to simulate clicks on ads so Facebook's advertisers stop wanting to advertise there. Two wrongs don't make a right, but sometimes you have to fight fire with fire.

    --
    You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
  5. Re:Facebook is still a thing? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's kinda scary to see kids around the age of 16 live a double life...

    I've never heard of a society that heavily used surveillance in which this didn't happen. In Nazi Germany and many Communist countries it was what they now call human intelligence, often in the form of neighbor snitching on neighbor, often for the most trivial reasons. It could be something as insignificant as, your neighbor has a dog that barks and wakes you up at night, so you turn him in for something and get rewarded. Or maybe he expressed the wrong opinion, went against the Party or whatever. The average person quickly learned to keep their head down, shut up, and profess whatever the "acceptable orthodoxy" of the day was.

    As soon as employers started reviewing Facebook accounts for "ideological purity" (although I am sure they would call it something else, something more flattering), it was obvious that the same type of pressures applied. It's just a cleaner, nicer, more comfortable pressure. Instead of being "disappeared" you just don't get that job, or that promotion, or that loan. No one and I mean no one is such a perfect Boy/Girl Scout that there isn't SOMETHING they'd rather not have made public. Much of life is based on learning from mistakes. When you can't do that without serious consequences, you learn to use deception. It becomes a life skill, like knowing how to pay a bill or maintain your home. It's the exact opposite of having a more open and tolerant society, because surveillance does not recognize the value of choice, and without choice there is no real openness.