• by Tobi Elkin , Staff Writer @tobielkin, November 30, 2016

Adblock Plus, the often-controversial company that offers an extension enabling consumer to block ads, disable tracking, and block domains  known to spread malware, is looking for candidates to run an independent board.

In fact, Adblock Plus is hosting a meetup in New York on Dec. 6th and another one in late January to vet candidates for a board. Mark Addison, Adblock Plus’ minister for special affairs, told RTBlog that several people have already come forward as candidates for the board.

Addison said that an independent review board would manage how ad blockers -- not only Adblock Plus -- define “good” and “bad” ads. He maintained that while most people don’t realize it, ad blocking is actually run as a global community project with about 22,000 volunteers who maintain a central filter list. Nearly all ad blockers use these same open-sourced lists, and a board will manage the global community that maintains these lists. 

The idea behind the board, Addison told RTBlog, “stems from our [Adblock Plus’] desire to completely distance ourselves from any perceived 'control' or unfair influence over what gets blocked and who gets whitelisted. Even though the current community is already an independent organization, Adblock Plus still manages the process, and that's what we want to let go of.”  

The meetup is designed for publishers and brand marketers to meet the team behind Adblock Plus, learn how the company got started, its motivations for disrupting online advertising, and how it open-sourced its  whitelisting process. 

The discussion will be led by Ben Williams, head of operations for Eyeo GmbH, the company that administers Adblock Plus. There is networking and Q&A planned.

In September, Adblock Plus announced the launch of an ad exchange. The company said publishers can sign up for its marketplace dubbed the “Acceptable Ads Platform” and use it to sell and place ad space on their Web pages.

For more information on the Dec. 6 meetup and registration, click here.