This series is designed to help people to understand modern technology, and become more confident in using computing devices. It is not designed to educate experts.
The author is involved in tutoring older students at SeniorNet, a New Zealand wide organisation. SeniorNet hopes that students will feel more confident in using their computing devices as a result of the learning opportunities offered. This series of articles shares that hope.
John Wanamaker’s famous quote from the late 1800s was “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.”
And if the recipients of that advertising are actively hostile to receiving the ads, the wastage is going to be much more than 50%.
I have a very ambivalent relationship with advertising. It can convey useful information about goods and services I might need at some time, but mostly it is just a waste of my time.
Who out there doesn’t feel likewise about ads? You might find one person in a day’s march who doesn’t find most of these irksome. So if we can reduce the flood without too much effort, why not? With so much of advertising now having migrated online, there is probably a technical solution.
Enter ad blockers. An ad blocker is a piece of software designed to prevent advertisements from appearing on a web page.
In our household, ads are delivered from a variety of sources, and today I want to talk about those reaching us on our computers, via web pages. I have long maintained a strict web browsing rule that I don’t want to see ads. So I spend an inordinate amount of time looking to block them.
Enter my ad blocker of choice, uBlock Origin. uBlock Origin is not actually an “ad blocker”; it’s described as a wide-spectrum content blocker with CPU and memory efficiency as a primary feature. This from the add on:
Out of the box, uBlock Origin blocks ads, trackers, coin miners, popups, etc. through lists of filters, enabled by default.
More lists are available for you to select if you wish.
Additionally, you can point-and-click to block JavaScript locally or globally, create your own global or local rules to override entries from filter lists, and use many more advanced features. And a single click will turn off uBlock Origin for a page, should you decide that the content merits this.
The extension is available for Chrome, Chromium, Edge, Firefox, Opera, Pale Moon, as well as versions of Safari prior to 13. And it’s open source, always an important plus for me.
Out of the box, it will block ads, and in its advanced form, it can do more.
I’m currently using it to remove this pop-up from Youtube.
Additionally, an important consideration, particularly for Microsoft Windows users, is the reduction of the attack surface available to malware slingers, who often use adverts as an attack vector. Less content from outside sources (not the website provider) reduces this well-known attack vector.
Of course, website and ad providers don’t like these types of blockers. There is an ongoing war where one side invents new ways to serve ads, and the other looks at ways to counter these. You will no doubt have visited sites that ask you to turn off your blocker, and other sites that won’t work when a blocker is operational. One of the latest ploys is called reinsertion of ads, where a blocked ad is reinserted using some fancy code. Each user needs to decide how they will react to site decisions. I long ago decided I wasn’t going to turn off my blocker. I would rather pay for content if it was good enough, or just not bother with the site. A good example is The BFD, where I have had an account for many years.
This comes down to questions of ownership. If a person has (owns) a website they get to control what is on the site, and who can view it. Just because a site exists doesn’t mean it’s available to everyone. But if the owner of the site decides to make it available, either for free or for payment, then provided the conditions and cost are met, you can download the web page. It then becomes like anything else you buy. It’s yours to do with as you please, within certain constraints. You can use it (look at it) or throw it away. You can store it, but you can’t (usually) claim it to be your work.
Some sites such as YouTube take a very aggressive stance and actively code to prevent their ad providers (in this case themselves, Google) from being blocked. Some ads get blocked, but most get through. On YouTube, I use a Firefox add-on called SponsorBlock for YouTube. This cleans up video by using crowdsourcing techniques to provide a database of where the ads, sponsors, intros, outros etc are located, and skipping them during playback. You can view these items if you wish; I will let your imagination tell you my wishes here. If I’m playing a YouTube video on my big TV, then downloading the video onto my computer (another activity frowned upon by Google) removes the ads. Playing the video from a USB drive means I see the video but not the ads (I did say earlier I have invested considerable time in ad curation and viewing).
I use Easy Youtube Video Downloader Express, a Firefox add on, for this. I also use Video Downloader, a Linux utility programme, that performs similarly to Downloader Express. It’s always best to have a backup plan in case one system suddenly doesn’t work.
Part of the problem is that advertising has become more invasive over time. I’m old enough to remember ad-free days on TV. In the early days of the Internet, we had a few banner ads. Now it’s ads all over the page, and these can detract from the content to such an extent as to make some pages worthless. It becomes a question. Do you respect the authors of the content, or the advertisers’ assumed right to plaster their ads everywhere? I have no trouble in coming down on the side of the author. I would rather see their message instead of information about funeral plans or haemorrhoid treatments.
Don’t get me wrong. I used advertising extensively when I worked in real estate, and a well-developed campaign can work wonders. However a poorly implemented campaign can damage brands and be counterproductive. It’s all in the eye of the beholder.
I also stream a reasonable amount of TV from the UK. This comes with the embedded ads, of course. It’s interesting to see what ads are played. No nanny state preventing alcohol ads, and there are plenty of ads for gambling services. Apparently, their government thinks the populace are adult enough to make up their own minds about what will or won’t harm them.
In any event, I would be interested in other folks’ take on advertising. Post in the comments below.
