I’ve just started using AdNauseum, which I think builds off of uBlock Origin, but also silently clicks and hides ads instead of just the latter. So far it seems to work pretty well, although I did have to set some sites to strict blocking.
Just keep in mind the possible cons of using AdNauseam.
With traditional adblockers like uBO, the ad content never gets loaded. With AdNauseam, it does, it’s just not shown to you.
That means the ad network is likely to get:
Your IP
Your Browser Header
Possibly the site you’re on
And it also makes you heavily identifiable, because to any ad server, a single user mass-clicking their advertisements by the thousands is going to make you very easy to track across sites, just by behavior alone.
So while it’s good if you just want no ads and to do a little monetary harm to surveillance advertising, it’s not good if you want privacy. (Unless you set it to show ads, but still click on all of them, and you’re the type that does sometimes click on ads, then it does become good for obfuscation)
I’d definitely recommend the same team’s other work: TrackMeNot, as it does a decent job of obfuscating your search queries. (Just make sure that if you use a privacy-focused search engine like DuckDuckGo, you disable any auto-searching on Google, since that just gives them your IP, without obfuscating the searches you aren’t making there anyways)
THERE IT IS!! I remember a thread on reddit about a year ago where someone linked that and I forgot what it was called and couldn’t find it for my life. Ty!
In the short term it ought to make money for advertisers like Google from those who choose to place ads, but ideally in the long-term, it loses them money by dramatically devaluing clickthroughs if enough people use it.
I don’t necessarily know if this is true, though, and whatever case, it seems like AdNauseum’s mission statement is to prevent profiling by blanket clicking everything, not to devalue ads. I just don’t personally use it because I’m content with blocking everything and don’t foresee much personal benefit in AdNauseum.
I like your answer more than what I was gonna type up :P
Up until a couple days ago, I was using uBO & PrivacyBadger in tandem. Maybe I’ll back to that, as I sit closer to your viewpoint vs giving ads any revenue stream. It’s kinda in the same realm as why I’d buy a game using CDKeys vs pirating/torrenting. It’s a morally grey area that makes it somewhat redeemable, but the point still stands. In AdNauseum’s case, you really can’t tell what ads are clicked on and therefore don’t know what any revenue stream is going in to which pockets you can inspect the ads it clicks on after the fact, but the money for said clicks still go somewhere, even if it’s in the fraction of a fraction of a cent.
Heh, I may just switch back. Thanks?.. Yeah, thanks!
I’ve just started using AdNauseum, which I think builds off of uBlock Origin, but also silently clicks and hides ads instead of just the latter. So far it seems to work pretty well, although I did have to set some sites to strict blocking.
Just keep in mind the possible cons of using AdNauseam.
With traditional adblockers like uBO, the ad content never gets loaded. With AdNauseam, it does, it’s just not shown to you.
That means the ad network is likely to get:
And it also makes you heavily identifiable, because to any ad server, a single user mass-clicking their advertisements by the thousands is going to make you very easy to track across sites, just by behavior alone.
So while it’s good if you just want no ads and to do a little monetary harm to surveillance advertising, it’s not good if you want privacy. (Unless you set it to show ads, but still click on all of them, and you’re the type that does sometimes click on ads, then it does become good for obfuscation)
I’d definitely recommend the same team’s other work: TrackMeNot, as it does a decent job of obfuscating your search queries. (Just make sure that if you use a privacy-focused search engine like DuckDuckGo, you disable any auto-searching on Google, since that just gives them your IP, without obfuscating the searches you aren’t making there anyways)
THERE IT IS!! I remember a thread on reddit about a year ago where someone linked that and I forgot what it was called and couldn’t find it for my life. Ty!
Does that make money for google when it clicks ads?
In the short term it ought to make money for advertisers like Google from those who choose to place ads, but ideally in the long-term, it loses them money by dramatically devaluing clickthroughs if enough people use it.
I don’t necessarily know if this is true, though, and whatever case, it seems like AdNauseum’s mission statement is to prevent profiling by blanket clicking everything, not to devalue ads. I just don’t personally use it because I’m content with blocking everything and don’t foresee much personal benefit in AdNauseum.
I like your answer more than what I was gonna type up :P
Up until a couple days ago, I was using uBO & PrivacyBadger in tandem. Maybe I’ll back to that, as I sit closer to your viewpoint vs giving ads any revenue stream. It’s kinda in the same realm as why I’d buy a game using CDKeys vs pirating/torrenting. It’s a morally grey area that makes it somewhat redeemable, but the point still stands. In AdNauseum’s case,
you really can’t tell what ads are clicked on and therefore don’t know what any revenue stream is going in to which pocketsyou can inspect the ads it clicks on after the fact, but the money for said clicks still go somewhere, even if it’s in the fraction of a fraction of a cent.Heh, I may just switch back. Thanks?.. Yeah, thanks!