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The Future Of Ad Blocking

Computer science researchers last week released a browser extension that blocks ads on Facebook and supersedes publishers that disable ad blockers. The new "perceptual ad blocker" identifies promoted content by checking for non-HTML signs of an ad, such as specific words, sizes, and shading that would indicate sponsored posts. The researchers said: "We believe that due to the architecture of web browsers, there’s an inherent asymmetry that favors users and ad blockers. We have devised and prototyped several ad blocking techniques that work radically differently from current ones. We don’t claim to have created an undefeatable ad blocker, but we identify an evolving combination of technical and legal factors that will determine the “end game” of the arms race."

Read the whole story at Freedom To Tinker »

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