Comment on AdNauseam is a uBlock fork that goes further: it actively attacks marketers by auto-clicking every ad before blocking

Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

• archonet@lemy.lol ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

  1. not in this way
  2. none

  the way it works is sending an HTTP request that registers as a “click” to the advertiser (thus costing them money), but then doesn’t actually let the browser download any content and fetch the webpage, basically pi-holes the ad and any attached tracking cookies. Combined with the fact that it does this to every ad, it would basically poison any click tracking.

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  • victorz@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    2. none

    Ah great

    it works [by] sending an HTTP request that registers as a “click” to the advertiser

    Uh, wait a minute. 🤔

    Sending a request also uses bandwidth, you know.

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    • Bourff@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      A basic GET request, even with a long querystring, will be negligible even on a 1998 dial-up connection.

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      • victorz@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

        Right, but thousands of them, possibly every day? Could perhaps affect your data consumption on your phone e.g. 🤷‍♂️

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    • archonet@lemy.lol ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      Image Okay, fine, not enough to matter. Are you satisfied with that?

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      • victorz@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

        Jesus, you got defensive quick and hard. Sorry I rustled you.

        lemmy.world/comment/16187642

        🤷‍♂️

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      • StopJoiningWars@discuss.online ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

        “I have drawn YOU as the soyjack and ME as the chad, therefore you lose the argument”

        Are you autistic?

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    • partial_accumen@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      That HTTP request would also show up in the advertisers web logs with your origin IP address.

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      • archonet@lemy.lol ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

        so use a VPN? if you’re the sort of user using AdNauseam, you’re probably also the sort of user who already uses a VPN.

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      • Fizz@lemmy.nz ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

        I think we’re far past caring about a website logging an IP address.

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      • FarceOfWill@infosec.pub ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

        What are they going to do? blacklist me and stop serving me ads?

        Oh no

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  • lumony@lemmings.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    Thanks for doing your part to spread the truth in this sea of lives and FUD.

    It’s clear that most people these days are proud consumers with more money than sense. All they care about is looking good in front of their consumerist friends, and they base all of their actions and decisions around what will support that ideology.

    As a kid, I thought useful idiots were rare. Now I see it’s the exact opposite.

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• ReallyActuallyFrankenstein@lemmynsfw.com ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

  Yeah, I can’t find an answer whether the “click” is behind some obfuscation, or if the “click every ad” is the obfuscation step itself by attempting to poison the data. The latter may work but yes, may actually increase tracking. Wish that answer wasn’t so hard to find on their site.

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  • Kbobabob@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    Did you look at the FAQ?

    github.com/dhowe/adnauseam/wiki/FAQ#how-does-adna…

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    • ReallyActuallyFrankenstein@lemmynsfw.com ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      Thanks, I didn’t see this, there was a different embedded FAQ that didn’t have the specific Q & A below.

      But, if anything, it seems to confirm the ad itself is just legitimately clicked from the user’s IP address and hidden from the user, and that there is code execution protection, but not that there is any privacy protection? It’s still very ambiguous.

      How does AdNauseam “click Ads”? AdNauseam ‘clicks’ Ads by issuing an HTTP request to the URL to which they lead. In current versions the is done via an XMLHttpRequest (or AJAX request) issued in a background process. This lightweight request signals a ‘click’ on the server responsible for the Ad, but does so without opening any additional windows or pages on your computer. Further it allows AdNauseam to safely receive and discard the resulting response data, rather than executing it in the browser, thus preventing a range of potential security problems (ransomware, rogue Javascript or Flash code, XSS-attacks, etc.) caused by malfunctioning or malicious Ads. Although it is completely safe, AdNauseam’s clicking behaviour can be de-activated in the settings panel.

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• fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

  Also wouldn’t this be directing a ton of money to google? (or I guess any other ad provider)

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  • halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    The advertisers are paying for the opportunity either way. Clicks cost them more money than just displaying the ad. Useless clicks cost them money for nothing.

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    • finitebanjo@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      The advertisers could be paying based on interactions and/or their rates could be negotiated around interaction, so unless a sizeable number of people use this it would be giving money to Goog

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  • Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    No, because it devalues their click through, as no sales will result from those clicks.

    It’s kinda like printing money, there’s more of it, but the overall value hasn’t increased.

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  • cageythree@lemmy.ml ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    In the short term, I would think so.

    In the long run, it makes it less appealing for companies to advertise, because they would have larger costs while having less sales. That, in return, hurts Google as advertisers don’t want to pay as much anymore.

    Or in short, it’s designed to hurt the system as a whole, not specific companies.

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