First of all, head over to the iTunes App Store and download the content blocker of your choice.
Advertisement
He explained his moral dilemma in a blog post, saying that he wasn’t prepared to take all the heat from publishers who feel that one of their main revenue streams, the ads displayed on mobile devices, is being removed without any warning. An ad can easily go too far. Maybe ad-blocking software’s introduction into the mobile environment is the spark that the ecosystem needs to move that idea along.
Let’s take these challenges in order. A recent Cyphort report showed “malvertising” – where hackers insert malicious ads into legit online operations – more than quadrupled in the previous year.
Please do tell us, in the comments section below, what you’d like to see emerge as a replacement for the current advertising model.
Univision, for instance, said it has been trying to get out in front of the issue, given its younger, mobile-savvy audience.
The concerns about Apple allowing ad blocking for the first time “appear to be overblown.” . Blocking ads has been around for a long time now, especially on desktop computers; users are be able to install plugins and extensions on their web browsers.
A primary culprit is unethical technology companies seeking to divert ad spending into their own pockets.
A more common response has been to talk about “simplification” (making better ads) and “conversation” (persuading readers to accept ads). It reminds me of Tony Soprano’s complaint to his therapist about how exhausting it is to be in the Mafia: “It’s too much to deal with nearly “. If an ad annoys you enough in one place to turn to the software, it will be tough convincing you to turn it off for a specific site.
Unfortunately, these rapacious businesses are also exploiting a real vulnerability: the erosion of stimulating consumer experiences online. More, with Apple’s move to enable content blocking in iOS, the big tech companies haven’t been shy about going after each other’s business models, while squeezing everyone else in the process.
But Apple doesn’t give all apps the necessary permission to monitor and carry out tasks that would help prevent the installation and execution of software gone bad, nor track what it does and block or remove it if it crosses the line. Stripping away the ads means you’re breaking an unspoken covenant with the company giving you the videos, articles and social media updates.
Some kind of menu, as in a more explicit contract, where we can actually see what we’re going to eat before it’s shoved down our throats?
“We have this massive open-source effort that creates the EasyList and EasyPrivacy, and we want everyone (even our ‘competitors, ‘ if you can even call them that, since our app is free) to enjoy the fruits of that effort”. Multiple content blockers can be installed and operational at the same time, and individually disabled on an application level through the Safari settings widget. Everyone wants to own “insights” about the user, the ad and the site.
Yet both companies haven’t been shy about stepping on each other’s toes. The industry needs to become better at using data – and at using less of it. Essentially each ad blocker is created to perform the same function, but with each case there will be some ads that do get through.
The Guardian asks people using ad blockers to consider signing up for membership. This happened with some ads served up by (ahem) Yahoo earlier this year; ads at Forbes also got compromised by Chinese hackers. TV networks, newspapers and magazines have had advertising acceptability departments for decades. Conceptually, what Apple can’t gain from iPad and iPhone sales, it can take by shaking pillars supporting its rival’s business.
If the industry doesn’t change its ways, rest assured, the cost of advertising will climb inexorably, for brands and all that support them. “I would be more anxious if I was an ad tech business”.
Advertisement
That’s the problem: Using an ad blocker can make your Web surfing less annoying, to be sure.
