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US Senator Attacks Failure To Crack Down On Google's Ad Fraud Problems (zdnet.com)
Democrat Senator Mark Warner "says Google is profiting off advertising fraud and has no interest in addressing it," reports ZDNet -- and he's laying part of the blame on America's trade commissioners.
Warner is just as mad about the FTC as he is about Google, claiming the FTC has failed to take action against the Mountain View-based company for more than two years since he and New York Democrat Senator Chuck Schumer first wrote the agency about Google's ad fraud problem. "The FTC's failure to act has had the effect of allowing Google to structure its own market," said Sen. Warner in a letter sent to the FTC... "While the company controls each link in the supply chain and therefore maintains the power to monitor activity in the digital advertising market from start to finish, it has continued to be caught flat-footed in identifying and addressing digital ad fraud."
Sen. Warner also called out Google for proving unwilling to address misuse of its advertising platform for the "rampant proliferation of online disinformation" -- referring to how various foreign entities have used Google ads to push political agendas, both in the US and other countries of the world. "As long as Google stands to profit from the sale of additional advertisements, the financial incentive for it to voluntarily root out and address fraud remains minimal," Sen. Warner added.
Sen. Warner also called out Google for proving unwilling to address misuse of its advertising platform for the "rampant proliferation of online disinformation" -- referring to how various foreign entities have used Google ads to push political agendas, both in the US and other countries of the world. "As long as Google stands to profit from the sale of additional advertisements, the financial incentive for it to voluntarily root out and address fraud remains minimal," Sen. Warner added.
Why can't Mark Warner just accept their bullshit excuses, look the other way (Pam Bondi) and take a fat lobbyist paycheck like everybody else?
It doesn't work at all on image search.
He's a Democrat; he's not going to let the Chinese rip-off the tech wing of the DNC!
...democrats hate her.
Would be even nicer if they'd actually *do* something about regulating Google et. al. It's all for show as far as I'm concerned. Find your spines, elected officials.
If there were a more dishonest faggot in your state than yourself, I'd be surprised. Trying to 'whattabout' your road conditions on THIS ARTICLE, you've got to be the least-intelligible Russia Today trollbot on this site, including Kendall.
Go fuck a pothole you retarded shill. This has nothing to do with your hangups.
There are few dumbasses I think of commenting on this article yet conspicuously it's YOU being a MORON and talking about unrelated shit in some back-handed defense of click fraud and worthless ratings? Grow up child.
You're seriously complaining about the poor having access to Medicaid? You are a worthless pile of shit. Nuff said.
And everybody knows that the Governor of VA rules alone so it makes sense to leave out the fact that the VGA is controlled by the GOP. That's the Two-Party System we all know and love!
Good job blaming the poor for all your woes, too. Maybe you should give the wealthy another tax break to apologize for the tens of millions of slobs who are just too lazy to work. We all have to do our part to combat vacation homelessness.
Why don't you just hop in the back of the Snap-On truck with all of the other tools?
So therefore I have no problem.
The fraudsters can't steal from me because I won't give them any attention.
Corporatism != Free Market
"Google is profiting off advertising fraud and has no interest in addressing it"
And the number of people surprised by this is pretty close to zero.
I like the part where he has faux concern about other nations speaking their minds about US politics but has zero problems with running his mouth about foreign nations.
exactly. when was the last time the government moved quickly to halt and resolve Wells Fargo gross malfeasance for the 2008 mortgage crisis. Wells Fargo should have just gone around and helped fix everyone's mortgage and stand to make not 50% profit and instead take 20-25%. greed is the root of all evil we experience everywhere.
exactly. it's not exactly the first time we have seen gross malfeasance in government and we can't do anything other than just live with it and hope that someone who can do something about it who has control and not above their own laws will do something to help. i just ask our congress people to politely just fix everything and keep greedy individuals out of government and in places of leadership. i don't mind a fair profit, but look at some of the greedy MOFOs..
Of course it self-regulated. Advertisers get ripped off. I couldn't think of a better thing to happen.
It warms my heart just to think about it. Merry Christmas, everyone! (Even you, people who've foe'd me, Merry Christmas because advertisers suck!)
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
If advertizers are being defrauded then they will stop buying advertizing in order to stop being defrauded. This will put Google out of business, and the problem will be solved.
However, Google is still in business and advertizers keep on buying advertizing from them indicating that there is, in fact, no fraud problem. So Google stays in business selling advertizing to willing purchasers, and those of use who do not want to see the advertizing continue to block it.
I do not see a problem.
See subject: Via APK Hosts File Engine 2.0++ 64-bit for Linux/BSD h t t p : / / a p k . i t - m a t e . c o . u k / A P K H o s t s F i l e E n g i n e F o r L i n u x . z i p
Yields more security/speed/reliability/anonymity vs. any 1 solution (99% of threats use hostnames vs. IP address most firewalls use) more efficiently/FASTER + NATIVELY 4 less!
Vs. "Bolt on 'MoAr' illogic-logic" slowing u hosts speed u up 2 ways: Adblocks + Hardcode fav. sites u spend most time @ vs. competition loaded w/ security bugs (DNS/AntiVir) + overheads slowing u (messagepass 'souled-out' to advertisers easily detected & blocked addons + firewall filtering drivers) & their complexity leads to exploit.
* ONLY 1 of its kind in GUI 4 Linux/BSD!
(Better vs. Windows model)
APK
P.S.=> Protects vs. scripts/trackers (kernelmode faster vs. usermode slower NoScript vs. 3rd party script)/ads/DNS request tracking + redirect poisoned or downed DNS/botnets/malware downloads/malcript/email malicious payloads... apk
See subject & results in https://apple.slashdot.org/com... https://it.slashdot.org/commen... https://it.slashdot.org/commen... & https://it.slashdot.org/commen... + https://it.slashdot.org/commen... + https://it.slashdot.org/commen... https://it.slashdot.org/commen... https://search.slashdot.org/co... https://it.slashdot.org/commen... https://it.slashdot.org/commen...
* That's only recently while I've been on Linux (July 2018) & 100's of times vs. MANY other botnets/malwares etc. in the past circa 2006-early 2018 while I was on Windows: CONCRETE VISIBLE UNDENIABLE REALITY (see those links as proof). ... & that's ONLY what /. reported on (there are FAR more)
APK
P.S.=> "It's working: Neville... it's working!" - "I AM LEGEND"... apk
"classic Windows hosts trick to block the Coinhive or Crypto-Loot domains" - https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/a-new-player-joins-coinhive-on-the-browser-cryptojacking-scene/ - BLEEPING COMPUTER
ZD NET http://www.zdnet.com/article/how-to-use-a-hosts-file-to-improve-your-internet-experience/ "Hosts files really shine by letting you block ads, spyware sites, malware sites, & tracking sites"
SANS ("A related approach to the DNS issue is to create a hosts file on each system that sends requests for spyware to some place else" hosts by myself & RAMU right @ START of "malware explosion" mid 2005 on) https://isc.sans.edu/forums/di...
Aryeh Goretsky/ESET/NOD32: hosts = good security https://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=7442373&.cid=49747129/
Oliver Day (SYMANTEC/SECURITYFOCUS) http://www.securityfocus.com/columnists/491/
Spybot S&D uses hosts.
APK
P.S.=> Malwarebytes' hpHosts hosts & RECOMMENDS my program forum.hosts-file.net/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=4290
Your software is just fine - well written, functional... I'm going to continue using the Host File Engine by mmell February 17, 2017
Your premise that hostfiles are a good way to deal with advertising and malvertising is quite valid - by JazzLad April 20, 2016
his hosts program is actually pretty good by xenotransplant August 10 2015
his hosts tool is actually useful for those cases in which one does indeed want to locally block stuff outright while consuming minimum system resources by alexgieg September 25 2015
I like your host file system by Karmashock September 09 2015
that APK guy, I use his host file by rogoshen1 Tuesday March 03, 2015
I personally use a HOSTS file blocker produced from a genius called APK by 110010001000 October 27 2017
* For the Win32/64 model.
APK
P.S.=> Linux model's faster/more efficient/better MERGE feature too - More coming... apk
Apk has the answer for that - really... kill automatic updates by adding a hosts file entry setting updates.steam.com or whatever to 127.0.0.1. You have to find the right hostname for each software you want to block updates on by raymorris (2726007) on Friday July 06, 2018
APK your posts on this and the hosts file posts, and more, have never been in error and/or bad advice by BlueStrat (756137) on Wednesday June 21, 2017
I support APK's stand on the hosts file and can't see why it's not used more than it is. My hosts file is 144247 lines long (4,332 Kb) it & a firewall serves me very well - by Trax3001BBS (2368736)
ABP is insufficient as a solid hosts file does everything APK reminds us about fast turtle September 17 2013
You need APK's hosts file - by Teun (17872) on Wednesday August 06, 2014
* For the Win32/64 model.
APK
P.S.=> Linux model's faster/more efficient + BETTER merge feature - More coming... apk
APK is totally right on this count. Adblock Plus on Firefox mobile is a dog on older, or lower end, phones. A hostfile based adblocker makes for a much better experience in this context. Of course, your phone has to be rooted, which isn't the case with Firefox + adblock." - by chihowa on Saturday May 16, 2015
APK solution STILL relevant Thud457 June 11 2015
In a footnote, I would like to note that I find your hosts file admirable - by vel-ex-tech (4337079) on Tuesday November 24, 2015
APK's monolithic hosts file is looking pretty good at the moment - by Culture20 on Thursday November 17
you're right about hosts files - by drinkypoo (153816) on Thursday May 26
APK, I know people give you a lot of shit regarding hosts, but please don't ever stop - by nasredin (958927) on Friday June 12, 2015 @03:34PM
* For the Win32/64 model.
APK
P.S.=> Linux model's faster/more efficient + BETTER merge feature - More coming... apk
I notice the article doesn't have any actual hard numbers, nor specific accusations.
There are a lot more Adsense users complaining about Google banning their accounts for the slightest of reasons than there are Adwords advertisers complaining about fraudulent clicks. If anything, Google already goes too far in preventing fraud, causing plenty of collateral damage along the way. There will always be at least a little bit of fraud, despite Google's efforts, but as long as it stays well below 1%, I doubt online advertisers are going to care. It's pretty sophisticated at this point and has become something to factor into the CPC. At some point, Google devoting ever more resources to fight click fraud is self-defeating, as the overhead from the anti-fraud efforts starts to cost more than the click fraud itself does.
Senator Warner, or most other Senators, don't seem to have bothered to do a cost/benefit analysis to see what the actual impact is on customers before spouting off against a company or suggesting additional laws and regulation, though.
The party of stupid and the party of evil get together and do something both stupid and evil, then call it bipartisan.
APK is kinda right... I've given up on JS based adblocking and gone to blackholing in /etc/hosts, just like it was back in the 90s. The computational load has gotten intolerable for any ad-blocking using JS. I've tried his hosts file generating software. It works. - by bmo (77928) on Thursday October 15, 2015
get around to 'installing' a hosts file list, not sure which one, likely the one from someonewhocares.org. If it works as well as what I used for a while about ten years ago, I'll be happy. And grateful to APK for the lesson and the reminder. - by kermidge (2221646) on Wednesday March 27
I actually went and downloaded a 16k line hosts file and started using that after seeing that post, you know just for trying it out. some sites load up faster. - by gl4ss (559668) on Thursday November 17
dammit MS, you proved APK right about something by lgw
* For the Win32/64 model.
APK
P.S.=> Linux model's faster/more efficient + BETTER merge feature - More coming... apk
(APK) is still right a hosts file really does work. It even blocked a some of the video ads that were inserted into a stream OrangeTide February 10 2016
the Host File Engine performs exactly as promised - by mmell (832646) on Thursday February 16, 2017
I do use APK's host file on all my systems at home by OrangeTide December 01 2017
I've never tried to belittle (APK's work), I've flat out said it's good - by BronsCon (927697) on Thursday February 11, 2016 @06:48PM (#51491263)
(Toss on 100,000++ users worldwide too!)
* For the Win32/64 model.
APK
P.S.=> Linux model's faster/more efficient + BETTER merge feature... apk
Who did it 1st: China or me? I did - dates are my proof https://theregister.co.uk/2017... w/ the FACT China rampantly STEALS U.S. Intellectual properties & military secrets!
* IMITATION truly IS the SINCEREST FORM of FLATTERY!
(... & proves hosts work vs. DNS faults in tracking you via dns request logs (since you avoid it & resolve FASTER locally using hosts) + DNS being downed OR Kaminsky REDIRECT security flaw misdirected poisoned (or vs. DNSChanger))
APK
P.S.=> Let me tell you ALL 1 thing: It's NOT EASY being "World-Class" like me (lol - 100,000++ users prove it for me) - enjoy the fruits of my labors for FREE + going FASTER/SAFER/MORE RELIABLY online (w/ a bit more anonymity too via my program)... apk
Warner, it's easy to sit on your arse and whinge the world owes you.
Fraud prosecutions are down: Does anyone that think that is because rich people have become honest? Maybe the reduction in FTC/IRS funding has some relevance to this issue.
I betting that Warner and Schumer didn't argue for more FTC/IRS staff, so they've got what they asked for.
When a politician claims X needs to happen, the first question should be "Done by whom and who will pay for it?"
"we see you are using an ad blocker"
click on back arrow,
Regards to the article and especially Chuckles Schumer: I guess tackling utterly trivial issues such as this and chasing after purely apocryphal russians is better than actual real issues.
*spit*
--
BMO
Damn Google. I hope they damn burn. I hate their damn phones tracking people even when wireless is turned off (yeah, google it). I hate their damn advertising popping up continuously when I'm not using their browser. I hate their damn reading of my emails. I really don't like them much at all. They are too big and need to be opened up and broken up. #GoogleBad4Democracy
Shut up lying retard. You can't provide any real proof or evidence to back up your claims. You are nothing but a world class loser.
APK doing hardcoded favorites years before the Chinese seems like solid proof he is telling it how it is to anyone Kung-Fu. Go eat your ramen noodles and stfu before apk puts the karate chop on you!
I notice the article doesn't have any actual hard numbers, nor specific accusations.
When I worked for an ad company it was between 15%-30% fraud. No one knew for sure, and the company pretended to care, made a token effort to stop it, but in actuality didn't care.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
So, when your off-topic spam was correctly modded to -1, you decided to repost the whole damn thing? You need to stop disrupting Slashdot discussions with your spam. Your program has also been exposed as snake oil in many ways, because you greatly overstate the capability of hosts to block threats. By your own admission, most new domains are used for malicious purposes, yet hosts can't block anything from them because the threats are new and not yet known. Addons that do whitelisting, however, can block those threats that hosts let through. You've also taken your testimonials out of context, which is dishonest. Most of those quotes are contained within comments that are otherwise critical of you and/or your software. In at least one situation, referring to BronsCon's comment, he retracted his endorsement of your work because he no longer considers it trustworthy. It's dishonest that you continue to post it and don't acknowledge that the endorsement has been rescinded.
I wish Slashdot would delete your spam when you reply to yourself in huge threads or repost your comments when they're modded down. However, I no longer believe you should be outright banned, because you do post useful comments sometimes.
By the way, I've kept my word to you about reporting the harassment of SuperKendall and raymorris. You might have seen a few of my replies to those comments calling out Slashdot for allowing them to be harassed and threatened with violence.
Please stop overstating the capabilities of your software, and please make yourself less annoying. I'll leave you alone after this post because I'm more interested in going after the aforementioned spammers. Be well, APK.
Yes, the perfect market solution. All click counts are wrong, so stop paying for unreliable clicks then. After that, nobody wants to run ads - also a win.
To stop 'ad fraud', don't run ads. Simple as that.
Neither do I. I use an adblocker or 3, I don't see any ads, fraudulent or not.
The adjective is Democratic. As in "Democratic Sen. Mark Warner" or "Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer."
Warner is a Democrat (and possibly also a democrat). But he is a Democratic senator. (Or Senator, depending on your style preferences.)
Some years back the other party, the party of old white guys and, oddly for a minority party, a party of very few minority voters,* decided their opponents (who they consider the enemy) could best be fought with name-calling rather than, you know, ideas. So they started terming the "Democratic Party" the "Democrat Party." This is the playground name-calling strategy that most people give up by the age of, say, 11. (Unless you have your name on a bunch of overly-gilded buildings, in which case you continue name-calling to compensate for short fingers or something.)
Republican Party.
Democratic Party.
And that's today's civics lesson. Class dismissed. Go and sin no more.
_____
*Also, the party that actually commits voter fraud (e.g. N.C. 9th Cong. Dist.) while doing everything possible to discourage qualified voters from voting, as opposed to the Democratic Party, which - true to its name - expends much effort in expanding the franchise and getting qualified voters to cast their ballot.
I'm on topic (ads nobody likes except those profiting by 'em) - you're not! GET ON TOPIC ya UNIDENTIFIABLE anon chicken STALKING me constantly.
* Quit being such a DO-NOTHING "ne'er-do-well" OBVIOUSLY & pitiful JEALOUS "Lil' Jowie", ok?
APK
P.S.=> Nice to see I RAN YOU DRY of your effete easily overridden "wannabe weapon" in the ABUSED downmod too, lol... apk
See subject: Hosts aren't effective security? Bullshit (only partial list too) https://tech.slashdot.org/comm... + hosts also gain you SPEED (where other 'solutions' like DNS are slower OR SLOW YOU (antivirus) & are FULL OF SECURITY ISSUES galore) 2 ways in adblocking + hardcoded favorites that resolve FASTER vs. remote DNS & also proof you vs. DNS requestlog tracking (anonymity) as well as 3rd party script trackers.
You're not even ON TOPIC (I am vs. ADS) you JEALOUS little DO-NOTHING chickenshit that STALKS me constantly by UNIDENTIFIABLE anonymous posts (while DOWNMODDING ME abusing your downmodpoints I run you DRY of easily by REPOSTING again).
Lastly: What I quote from others IS WHAT THEY SAID verbatim - or are you saying they did NOT say my work's good &/or that they use it because it's effective?
APK
P.S.=> You make me LAUGH & you're easily shown to be nothing more than a JEALOUS "Lil' Jowie" DO-NOTHING "ne'er-do-well" bullshit artist STALKER of me... apk
All the proof I need is that I did hardcodes in hosts files LONG BEFORE the Chinese (more than a decade++ so in fact).
You try PROJECT what YOU ARE onto me? Please - You're the world-class LOSER & JEALOUS as hell you're a do-NOTHING "ne'er-do-well" w/ NOTHING you've ever done (which is zero, obviously) is anywhere NEAR that good!
* ... & you KNOW it - prove otherwise.
APK
P.S.=> Oh, that's right - I've asked you do so MANY times & all you DO is "RUN, Forrest: RUN!!!" lol - nothing to show for yourself but the GREEN of ENVY vs. me... apk
You wrote a spambot ("CyberianTiger") to flood Slashdot with your ads. They are off-topic spam and should be deleted. Your work isn't very good, since the Windows version was benchmarked to take roughly four million CPU cycles per entry. Take your spam elsewhere.
It's time for users to request their Slashdot accounts be deleted, until whipslash finally cleans up the cesspool of spam -- your off-topic nonsense and the posts harassing SuperKendall and raymorris. If enough longtime users leave, perhaps management will improve things around here. #DeleteSlashdot
No, you wrote a bot to harass me admittedly https://science.slashdot.org/c... & I wrote up what NULLIFIED IT easily by reposting over your abused downmods (which PROVES you STALK ME by UNIDENTIFIABLE anonymous too since you have 'downmodpoints' you abuse).
* GET ON TOPIC loser - I am vs. ads, you're not. My program stops ads & threats + trackers & speeds you up 2 ways (hardcodes & adblocks) + makes you more anonymous online - you've done better?
NO, you have not.
On the quality of my work? Registered /.ers disagree BIGTIME (along w/ 100,000++ users worldwide using it) https://tech.slashdot.org/comm... https://tech.slashdot.org/comm... https://tech.slashdot.org/comm... https://tech.slashdot.org/comm... https://tech.slashdot.org/comm...
As do SECURITY PROS of the efficacy of hosts vs. threats & for more speed https://tech.slashdot.org/comm...
APK
P.S.=> ANYONE DO THAT FOR YOUR NON-EXISTENT "NOTWARE"? NO, lol!... apk
Why do you believe your spam ads for your inferior product should never be modded down? You're so arrogant that you think moderation should apply to others, but not to you. One can hope that, rather than lose lots of good users, Slashdot will give you the boot instead. Your long-winded anti-semitic spam has no place on this site. Neither do your ads.
#DeleteSlashdot
And for you... SPH
Fact (vs. you stalking me by UNIDENTIFIABLE anon & bots that fail vs. me) != "antisemitic spam" https://tech.slashdot.org/comm...
* Accept it - you LOSE as always, loser...
(Do something useful w/ your OBVIOUSLY wasted life instead of STALKING me by UNIDENTIFIABLE ac posts, ok? Your off-topic JEALOUS "Lil' Jowie" BS isn't effective...)
APK
P.S.=> My "inferior product" is multiplatform & does MORE for LESS, natively, for more speed/security/reliabilty/anonymity for users (that praise it, see the link above for proof) than ANY other "solution" that is "Bolt-on-'MoAr'" ILLOGIC-LOGIC full of security issues (DNS/Antivirus) + slowing you (hosts speed you up 2 ways) & works FULLY & fully user tunable (unlike addons that are easily clarityray nullified OR don't work fully by default (adblock)) - so much for it being "inferior", lol - from YOU, the EXPERT on being INFERIOR in all things in life no doubt... apk
What I post = FACT you can't deny -> https://tech.slashdot.org/comm... dumbo.
JEW swastika, raymorris (whom I respect & wouldn't DO that to since ray's actually patched Linux @ the CORE once afaik), superkendall harassements ARE NOT I dumbo!
YOU wrote a BOT to IMPERSONATE & defame me admittedly https://science.slashdot.org/c... ?
YOU're doing it PROJECTING you are.
* Don't TRY "frame me" stupid (especially minus proof)!
APK
P.S.=> My hosts program does FAR MORE WORK than INFERIOR hosts file generator competitors vs. bad entries (ala invalid tld/gTLD & hardcoded favs than any other does)
Hence it's always PERFECT & totally user-controlled filtering results!
That doesn't come "for free" (stringwork IS cpu-expensive, which tells me YOU DON'T KNOW THE 1st THING ABOUT IT & why you haven't done anything others like/use/praise as I do w/ proof in links here https://tech.slashdot.org/comm... )... apk
My work NOT malware. It STOPS it bigtime https://tech.slashdot.org/comm... w/ proof (far from complete proof mind you).
Code signing's been STOLEN stupid https://www.helpnetsecurity.co... my INTERNAL mathematical check CANNOT be stolen thus & even did well by /.ers in CODING FOR DEFCON as far back as 13++ yrs. ago UPMODDED https://it.slashdot.org/commen...
* HOW MANY MORE TIMES DO FACTS I PUT OUT vs. your BULLSHIT & LIES have to be used by me to DESTROY YOU EASILY?
APK
P.S.=> You've done NOTHING but be OFF-TOPIC & write a BOT my work EASILY nullified & defeated lol https://science.slashdot.org/c... ... apk
Advertising ROI has always been very poor. They have no idea they are getting fleeced and have no way to tell. Senator is correct. There is widespread fraud on the part of Google.
I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
You ADMIT writing a bot to IMPERSONATE & LIBEL me saying what you do now? LOL, please - you're MY fool vs. this https://tech.slashdot.org/comm... CHUMP!
* UNIDENTIFIABLE anonymous nobody has to STFU vs. FACT in that link & you stfu, lol!
APK
P.S.=> GO away boy, accept fact - you LOSE & best part is for me? YOU DEFEAT YOURSELF constantly, lol... apk
It's fact (which is more than you've got) period that I did hardcoded favorites in hosts @ least a DECADE before China did just like it's fact you're a WEEZIL that HIDES from me via UNIDENTIFIABLE anonymous posts because you amount to nothing more than a "ne'er-do-well" DO-NOTHING ZERO in this life.
* Prove otherwise - oh, that's right: I've asked you do that COUNTLESS TIMES & what do YOU do? Run, Forrest - run!!!
APK
P.S.=> It makes me RoTfLmAo being able to do this to you & "your kind" in life you know - you make it SO EASY to do... apk
Judging by how much you call others retard my judgement is you've been called that many times yourself and you're projecting it.
And your 1% number came from where? Your butt? You're the biggest optimist on the planet, and this is coming from a massive optimist..