
Microsoft plans to build ad blocker into its Edge browser - elorant
http://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-plans-to-build-ad-blocker-into-its-microsoft-edge-browser/
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mtgx
At least for now, I think ad-blocking should be optional, as it is in the new
Opera beta, but I think tracking-protection (against third-party cross-site
trackers) should be the _default_ in browsers.

In fact, browser vendors should not just use "tracking blacklists" (as Firefox
does now), but they should be working on new standards that _break_ websites
that use cross-site tracking, and they should set a deadline of 1-2 years
before it goes into effect. Call it a "sandboxing/isolation" feature (which is
what it should be).

I think tracking _on the site_ that shows developers what pages a user visits
and whatnot, is _fine_ , but I oppose tracking _across websites_. That's
really just another name for mass surveillance. That kind of trackers also
introduce all sorts of security issues.

Being tracked across domains is really more of a new phenomena on the Web, and
Google was one of the first companies to introduce it. And because they just
enabled it for everyone by default, we didn't get much time to fight back
against it. But I think we can and should fight back against it.

Optional ad-blocking in browsers will eventually teach the advertising
industry as well as publishers that they better do something about those heavy
ads and _quickly_ before everyone starts learning about that setting in their
browser, while a default ban on cross-site tracking should hopefully stop the
practice altogether.

I hope that everyone who wants to implement ad-blocking in their browsers
should also allow users to test how the browser performs with ads vs without
ads. That feature in Opera is seriously addictive and just another way to
encourage publishers to get rid of bad ads.

