Ad blockers: myths and facts
Visit any end-user message board where amateur
computer advice is dispensed and discussed,
and you will start to see that just use an ad
blocker
has started to replace just update your
antivirus
or just turn on your firewall
as the default advice for when someone's computer is
acting hinky.
Creepy ads following you around? Just use an ad blocker!
Internet slow? Just use an ad blocker!
New unwanted feature in an application? Just use an ad blocker!
Ad blockers are no more magic than antivirus
or firewalls. But they do give users a sense of
agency, so simply admonishing users to turn the
ad blocker off
is no solution. The turn off your ad blocker
message is unlikely to get someone to abandon a tool
that he or she sees as essential protection, and just
reflects badly on the site that uses it.
At the same time, though, sites will benefit by educating users about the limitations and non-magical qualities of ad blockers. For example, by default, the most popular ad blocker, AdBlock Plus, will allow many risky third-party trackers through. The privacy features are not enabled at install time.
In order to warn users about the
problem, the Aloodo tracking protection
test now includes a
simple ad blocker test (using a harmless transparent image
called ad.gif
).
The test result page now includes an additional message shown to ad blocker users who are still vulnerable to third-party tracking. All part of the process of refining the message and helping to move users from general ad blocking to tracking protection.
Don Marti · #