
Adblock Plus “typo correction” feature adds affiliate IDs to links - AlexanderHektor
http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mobilegeeks.de%2Fadblock-plus-undercover-einblicke-in-ein-mafioeses-werbenetzwerk%2F
======
bad_user
I cannot verify the claims, but I'll state the reasons once again about why
I'm not using ad blockers:

1) free websites and web services need revenue and as long as the ads are
tasteful, I don't mind them

2) I actually want websites to annoy me with lots of stupid ads, as I want to
stop using such websites, because I want to reward publishers that don't do
that

Ad blockers are trying to fix a symptom of the disease and in doing so they
only help spreading and growing that disease.

~~~
citricsquid
Plus a huge number of people that adblock have been doing it for years and are
basing the continued usage on the assumption that adverts now are similar to
the adverts in 2006 - 2009. I use a lot of different websites with
advertisements and I can't think of the last time I've seen an advertisement
that auto-played sound or caused lag, whereas in 2008 it was a daily
occurrence. The value that advertisements provide (support websites) greatly
outweighs the inconvenience that current advertisements cause, even Youtube
pre-roll adverts are not that bad after getting used to them.

~~~
mtrimpe
I started blocking ads less than a year ago because of YouTube's pre-roll
advertisements, since I'm perfectly capable of filtering out text based ads
but a format that _requires_ me to watch the ad to be able to view the content
_without_ letting me pay them is a deal-breaker for me.

Is it really that hard to let me pay a monthly fee to turn ads off?

Google is serving the vast majority of ads online and they already have the
infrastructure in place to channel part of that fee to the content creators
including knowing whom I visit and when.

~~~
ianlevesque
Exactly this. Everyone needs to offer the option to pay in some way. If we
could pay for a bundle of all sites even better.

~~~
lifeformed
Someone should make a paid adblocker service that shares revenue with site
owners. Site owners can opt in to get a share of the revenue, so that each
time a visitor using the adblocker visits their site, the site owner gets paid
an amount equivalent to the potential ad revenue from that visit. That means
they could serve up a custom ad-less page that's designed to look nice sans
ads.

Users get a good adblocker that they don't have to feel bad about using, and
site owners get to sustain the revenue they would've lost.

Maybe it could provide more benefits than just ad blocking? Perhaps it would
just be a "premium membership to the internet". Site owners can take even more
revenue if they implement even more features. More web app options, custom
styling options, social badges, etc. The more a user pays a month, the more
features he gets all over the internet.

~~~
ianlevesque
Yep I'd buy it.

------
rmk2
> Fuenfzehn Mitarbeiter, davon zwei Geschaeftsfuehrer, weitere Stellenanzeigen
> sind geschaltet, Bueros im Koelner Clusterhaus? Und das einzige Produkt ist
> eine kostenlose Browser-Erweiterung? Wie kann das funktionieren?

Fifteen employees, two of those managers, further job ads are taken out,
offices in Cologne's Clusterhaus? And the only product is a free of charge
browser extension? How does that work?

Additionally, this part seems important as well:

> Viel wichtiger: das ist also Till Faidas Verstaendnis von akzeptablen
> Werbeanzeigen: gefakte Testberichte und Auszeichnungen, pseudoneutrale
> Bewertungen auf anonymisierten Blogs. Artikel, geschrieben von der PR-
> Abteilung und Geschaeftsfuehrung eines Unternehmens,
> suchmaschinenoptimierter Content-Dreck fuer das eigene Produkt. Scam nennt
> man sowas in Fachkreisen!

More importantly: so this is Till Faida's understanding of acceptable
advertisements: faked test reports and awards, pseudoneutral ratings on
anonymised blogs. Articles, written by the PR-department and by the management
of a company, search-engine-optimised content-dreck [i.e. crud] for their own
product. Expert circles tend to call this scam!

[the translation isn't the prettiest but hopefully quite close to the original
in both meaning and intent]

[edit] The whole "mafia" argument seems to stem from these questionable
practices of "anonymous" and thus seemingly neutral feedback, originating from
within the company itself.

[edit 2] fixed first translation, since I forgot the half-sentence "weitere
[...]"

------
mikejarema
Interestingly, Amazon is changing the terms of their Associates program to
(among other things) specifically prohibit browser plugins from being eligible
for sales commissions:

    
    
      7.	Except as agreed between you and us in a separate written agreement 
      referencing this Participation Requirement, you will not use any Content or 
      Special Link, or otherwise link to the Amazon Site, on or in connection with:
    
      a.	any client-side software application (e.g., a browser plug-in, 
      helper object, toolbar, extension, or component or any other application 
      executable or installable by an end user) on any device, including 
      computers, mobile phones, tablets, or other handheld devices;
    

\- [https://affiliate-
program.amazon.com/gp/associates/help/oper...](https://affiliate-
program.amazon.com/gp/associates/help/operating/compare?ref_=pe_173690_30619550)

------
nwh
Google cache:
[https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache%3Ahttp...](https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.mobilegeeks.de%2Fadblock-
plus-undercover-einblicke-in-ein-mafioeses-
werbenetzwerk%2F&oq=cache%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.mobilegeeks.de%2Fadblock-plus-
undercover-einblicke-in-ein-mafioeses-
werbenetzwerk%2F&aqs=chrome.0.69i57j69i58.2627j0&sourceid=chrome&espv=205&ie=UTF-8)

Google translated Google cache:
[http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&tl=en&u=ht...](http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwebcache.googleusercontent.com%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Dcache%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.mobilegeeks.de%2Fadblock-
plus-undercover-einblicke-in-ein-mafioeses-
werbenetzwerk%2F%26oq%3Dcache%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.mobilegeeks.de%2Fadblock-
plus-undercover-einblicke-in-ein-mafioeses-
werbenetzwerk%2F%26aqs%3Dchrome.0.69i57j69i58.2627j0%26sourceid%3Dchrome%26espv%3D205%26ie%3DUTF-8)

------
dbcooper
Lets try an experiment with Amazon referrers.

(a) Take a "randomly" sourced blog post for a book review:

[http://reason.com/blog/2013/06/14/the-unwinding-is-george-
pa...](http://reason.com/blog/2013/06/14/the-unwinding-is-george-packer-john-
dos)

(b) Check links to amazon:

[http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0374102414/reasonmaga...](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0374102414/reasonmagazineA/)

(c) Click through and check URL:

[http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0374102414/reasonmaga...](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0374102414/reasonmagazineA/)

Looks OK. Anything I'm missing?

~~~
angry-hacker
It has something to do with their feature called typo corrections, only
available for Firefox right now (I have only ABP for Chrome/FireFox). It has
to be enabled, if it is enabled by default for all user or not, I'm not sure.

typoRules.js downloads urlfixer.org/download/rules.json?version=2 where the
redirect is made if you type for an example: amazon.comm, I get (FireFox only)
redirected to their affiliate amazon.com link.

For an example, amazon.co.ukk gets redirected to
[http://www.amazon.co.uk/?tag=uf07d-21](http://www.amazon.co.uk/?tag=uf07d-21)

Edit:

Some of the lines of that file:

"domainReferrals":{"amazon.co.uk":"tag=uf07d-21","amazon.com":"tag=uf024-20","amazon.de":"tag=uf0e6-21","amazon.es":"tag=uf07-21","amazon.fr":"tag=uf02b-21","amazon.it":"tag=uf08d-21","ozon.ru":"partner=urlfixer"},"

~~~
dbcooper
reply to edit:

If I change the .com to .comm it changes the URL to:

[http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0374102414/reasonmaga...](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0374102414/reasonmagazineA/?tag=uf024-20)

So this is only for mistyped (edit) manually typed referrer URLs?

~~~
angry-hacker
I guess so. Here they even admit it's their revenue source and that it won’t
be enabled by default....

[https://adblockplus.org/blog/typo-correction-feature-in-
adbl...](https://adblockplus.org/blog/typo-correction-feature-in-adblock-plus)

------
rmk2
AdBlock Plus confirms most points via heise.de (updated half an hour ago):
[http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Schwere-Vorwuerfe-
geg...](http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Schwere-Vorwuerfe-gegen-
Werbeblocker-AdBlock-Plus-1897152.html)

> In einer Stellungnahme bestätigen die Macher von AdBlock Plus die von
> Pallenberg aufgezeigten Zusammenhänge weitgehend. "Ein Großteil der
> Informationen zu der Zusammenarbeit mit unseren Partnern ist korrekt
> recherchiert, einiges nicht", heißt es in einer Stellungnahme von Mitgründer
> Till Faida, den Pallenberg in seinem Artikel kritisiert hatte. "Im Gegensatz
> zu Sascha Pallenberg sehen wir in der Vernetzung keinen Gewissenskonflikt."

The makers of AdBlock Plus largely confirm Pallenberg's connections in a
statement. "The bulk of the information about the cooperation with our
partners is investigated correctly, some isn't", according to a statement by
co-founder Till Faida, who Pallenberg had criticised in his article. "Unlike
Sascha, we do not see a moral conflict in this interconnectedness."

>Das Unternehmen ist überzeugt, dass sich Werbeformen wie die "Acceptable Ads"
langfristig durchsetzen wird. Das Whitelisting sei für kleine und mittelgroße
Webseiten kostenlos. "Dabei haben wir immer transparent geäußert, dass große
Unternehmen unsere Initiative finanziell unterstützen." Eine Bevorzugung
dieser Firmen gebe es jedoch nicht, die Kriterien seien für alle gleich. Auch
die Kriterien der Entscheidungen durch die Community seien "vollkommen
transparent".

The company is convinced that advertisement forms like "Acceptable Ads" will
prevail in the long run. Whitelisting is free of charge for small and medium-
sized websites. "We have always transparently communicated that big companies
support our initiative financially." However, preferential treatment of these
companies does not exist, the criteria are the same for everybody. The
criteria for decisions by the community are also "completely transparent." [1]

[1]: The whole paragraph is difficult to translate since it makes extensive
use of indirect speech, which is marked by the German Konjunktiv, without a
clear marker of a speaker. The whole paragraph is a mixture of direct quote
and paraphrasing of the company's own words and thus represents entirely the
company's view and assurance that everything is fair, transparent and openly
communicated.

[edit] tense in the first paragraph [had criticised]

------
SifJar
I'm struggling to fully understand the article due to the poor Google
Translation. Anyone offer some concise clarification as to what ABP is
_actually_ doing? Is it "just" that they are changing Amazon referral links on
websites to their own referral links so they get money instead, or is there
more to it than that? Are they even actually doing that? (Or is it just that
they aren't _blocking_ referral links made with software by one of ABP's
creators?)

EDIT: I came across this from a few months back:
[http://www.digitaltrends.com/web/adblock-plus-accused-of-
sha...](http://www.digitaltrends.com/web/adblock-plus-accused-of-shaking-down-
websites/)

Seems to be about some similar stuff

~~~
Hopka
They are also allegedly not filtering a set of white-listed ads, most of which
come from companies that pay 30% of their ad revenue to the company behind
AdBlock Plus.

~~~
jrabone
ABP has had an option to enable some white-listed ads for a while. It's ticked
by default, but it's not exactly hidden...

------
JoshTriplett
What I find disturbing: the author of Adblock Plus famously went on a rant a
long time ago about how people approached him to pay him to do various things
with his popular extension, such as change default search engines. He refused,
very publically, and bemoaned the likelihood that other extension authors
might not.

And then the oxymoronic "Acceptable Ads" happened, and the painfully bad "typo
correction" anti-feature (no, I really mean wikimedia, not wikipedia), and now
this which ties into the "typo correction" bits. All of which are either on by
default or pester the user to turn them on. And every one of these creates a
new support issue for me with people I set up Adblock Plus for.

------
0x0
Is this in any way related to the "AdBlock" extension (not "...plus")?
[https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/adblock/gighmmpiob...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/adblock/gighmmpiobklfepjocnamgkkbiglidom)

~~~
colkassad
Apparently not:

"AdBlock is not to be confused with Adblock Plus. The developer of AdBlock for
Chrome claims to have been inspired by AdBlock Plus, which is a community
supported development effort, but otherwise the two efforts are unrelated."[1]

[1]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AdBlock_(Chrome)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AdBlock_\(Chrome\))

~~~
jpreiland
Huh... well that clears up a lot.

I've tried both and was curious as to why the "Plus" version of an extension
allowed tons of ads when the regular "AdBlock" did a perfect job of never
showing me ads. I guess that answers that question.

------
Uchikoma
From the article: Investors in Adblock Plus / Owners of the company behind
Adblock Plus also invest/own ad-network companies, which they put on the white
list while they keep out competitors. The article claims one can buy oneself
onto the whitelist.

------
mparramon
[http://adblockplus.org/en/features](http://adblockplus.org/en/features) :

"Adblock Plus will always block annoying ads. Still, many websites rely on
advertising revenues so we want to encourage websites to use plain and
unobtrusive advertising instead of flashy banners. That's why the Adblock Plus
community has established strict guidelines to identify acceptable ads, and
Adblock Plus allows these out of the box. You can always disable this feature
if you want to block all ads."

Could this be related?

Link to the guidelines: [http://adblockplus.org/en/acceptable-
ads#criteria](http://adblockplus.org/en/acceptable-ads#criteria)

Edit: I just contacted Till Faida about this, will keep this post updated.

------
Zirro
A blog post on the Adblock Plus-website from 44 days ago mentions a "joint
campaign" by several German newspapers against ad blockers. I imagine this is
part of it, although that's doesn't necessarily mean that they are wrong
and/or exaggerate their accusations.

See here: [https://adblockplus.org/blog/our-thoughts-on-the-unity-of-
ge...](https://adblockplus.org/blog/our-thoughts-on-the-unity-of-german-
newspapers-against-ad-blockers)

~~~
ibotty
no that is something different. (at least the joint campaign had pretty much
no arguments, whereas the submission raises a few doubts, to say the least.)

------
hesselink
I have Adblock Plus installed, but comparing an Amazon affiliate link in
Firefox with Adblock Plus, with one in Chrome (no Adblock Plus) shows no
difference.

~~~
philhippus
There are several points at which the link can be changed from when it loads
to after it is clicked. Did you compare every scenario?

~~~
hesselink
I compared before clicking, and the final page I ended up on at Amazon's site.
Both were the same.

------
Tobu
I can't find any reference to Amazon in the source code.

The source code is over there (GPL):
[https://hg.adblockplus.org/adblockplus/](https://hg.adblockplus.org/adblockplus/)

The article seems to say this is related to the typo feature, but
[https://hg.adblockplus.org/adblockplus/file/tip/defaults/typ...](https://hg.adblockplus.org/adblockplus/file/tip/defaults/typoRules.json)
has never changed since the introduction of the feature in 2012-11.

~~~
edwintorok
typoRules.js downloads
[http://urlfixer.org/download/rules.json?version=2](http://urlfixer.org/download/rules.json?version=2),
which contains (among others):

"domainReferrals":{"amazon.co.uk":"tag=uf07d-21","amazon.com":"tag=uf024-20","amazon.de":"tag=uf0e6-21","amazon.es":"tag=uf07-21","amazon.fr":"tag=uf02b-21","amazon.it":"tag=uf08d-21","ozon.ru":"partner=urlfixer"},

~~~
Tobu
Okay. It seems that if I enable the typo feature (which is disabled by
default, I've just checked in a clean profile) and go to amazon.comm, I get
redirected to
[http://amazon.com/?tag=uf024-20](http://amazon.com/?tag=uf024-20)

ABP notifies me of the redirection, and I can accept or blacklist it.

~~~
edwintorok
Yeah it seems to be default off, and they're not hiding the fact that this is
a monetization source: [https://adblockplus.org/blog/typo-correction-feature-
in-adbl...](https://adblockplus.org/blog/typo-correction-feature-in-adblock-
plus)

However it appears to add that tag only if I typo the name, if I follow a good
Amazon link (with or without the affiliate) then it doesn't get 'corrected'.

Although since the rewrite rules are downloaded from a remote location (over
HTTP, not even HTTPS!) they could in theory decide to rewrite any links in the
future, without many people noticing.

~~~
Tobu
While they could update the list, it's still typo correction. As implemented,
the url needs to be typed in the location bar and the domain can't exist.

Edit: sorry about that last part. [http://amazon.co](http://amazon.co) does
exist and does get corrected.

~~~
edwintorok
IIRC I've seen it suggest me typo corrections even when visiting valid
websites.

------
sdfjkl
So what's a good alternative (Firefox)? I'm using GlimmerBlocker, but due to
being a proxy, it can't filter HTTPS pages.

Adblock Edge looks like a decrapified fork of Adblock Plus.

~~~
gasull
Firefox addons for privacy and security with usable settings:

\- AdBlock Edge. Filter subscriptions: EasyList, EasyPrivacy, Disable Malware,
Fanboy's Annoyance List, Prebake

\- NoScript. Use "allow scripts globally" or otherwise most websites won't
work. It will still protect against know attacks.

\- Cookie Monster. Then set global/default preference to saving cookies for
session only.

\- FireGloves. Uncheck "disable plugin and mimeType lists" in Cloak Settings.

\- HTTPS Everywhere

\- LastPass

~~~
shaggy
Is there some mistake in your NoScript item? Installing the plug-in and then
using "allow scripts globally" is the equivalent of never installing the plug-
in. It provides almost no value at all when run that way.

~~~
gasull
No. It stills protects against known attacks, like XSS attacks. If you block
scripts by default you'll have to configure what scripts to allow every time
you visit a new site, or every time the site adds new assets.

------
sciurus
These are the ads Adblock Plus allows: [https://easylist-
downloads.adblockplus.org/exceptionrules.tx...](https://easylist-
downloads.adblockplus.org/exceptionrules.txt)

------
hartator
Changing Amazon referencial links... Seriously? and this guy is asking for
donation putting forward his wife and his life.

~~~
bliker
I think you are talking about AdBlock, Adblock Plus is different.

~~~
glitch273
Are those two programs made by different people? I thought one was just the
paid version of the free one.

~~~
bliker
Adblock Plus - company in question.

AdBlock - Donationware. They also run this
[http://chromeadblock.com/catblock/download/](http://chromeadblock.com/catblock/download/)
It replaces ads with pictures of cats. Hilarious

------
Sujan
FYI: The article is separated on 2 pages:

[http://www.mobilegeeks.de/adblock-plus-undercover-
einblicke-...](http://www.mobilegeeks.de/adblock-plus-undercover-einblicke-in-
ein-mafioeses-werbenetzwerk/2/)
[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache%3Ahttp%...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.mobilegeeks.de%2Fadblock-
plus-undercover-einblicke-in-ein-mafioeses-
werbenetzwerk%2F2%2F&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:de:official&client=firefox-a)

The allegation concerning rewriting links is on this second page, for example.

------
bliker
if you have a minute you can go there and report abuse

[https://chrome.google.com/webstore/report/cfhdojbkjhnklbpkda...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/report/cfhdojbkjhnklbpkdaibdccddilifddb)

and

[https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/adblock-
plus/...](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/adblock-
plus/#id=1865)

~~~
hilti
Just did it.

------
fhd2
(Edit: The headline used to be "Adblock Plus is changing Amazon refs", but it
has been fixed. I commented on the new one below [6].)

I'm a developer at Eyeo, working on Adblock Plus. Adblock Plus is not changing
Amazon links. TFA is ripe with FUD, but it doesn't even go this far.

Maybe this was a major misunderstanding of the typo correction feature [1],
which is opt-in, only implemented in Firefox and merely corrects typos in
URLs, always telling what it corrected. I was never really sure how it fits
into ABP, but I fail to see how this could be considered shady.

Other than that, the only thing Adblock Plus does is block content. Which
content that is depends on the filter lists you use. There are defaults, but
you're free to use any you like, or create your own. It's usually ads, but ABP
is also pretty good at blocking any kind of tracking [2].

Back to TFA. The main allegations are:

1\. The CEO and the angel investor at Eyeo have ties to the ad industry

2\. Adblock Plus is letting ads through if sites pay for it

3\. Adblock Plus is burning money

One at a time:

1\. This is true. Eyeo was founded to find a middle ground between users
blocking ads and sites monetising from ads. The idea is that there are decent
ads that most people wouldn't want to block, in the sea of horrible ads -
"acceptable ads" [3]. "The ad industry" is not a single evil entity that wants
to blind us all, some people in it actually want to make ads better. Hence
Wladimir joined forces with them.

2\. Every site can have their ads whitelisted, and ads that violate the
criteria [4] will not be whitelisted. Some sites are supporting us
financially, others don't. I think the main controversy is that this feature
is opt-out rather than opt-in.

3\. I disagree. More than half of the employees on the payroll are working
remotely, deliberately. We wouldn't even all fit into the office, which is
nice, but cheap (it's a building that's going to be demolished in 1-2 years).
We're barely profitable, nobody's getting rich. We manage the infrastructure
that delivers the filter lists - which are used by literally every other ad
blocker out there, for free, and that's fine. Everything we create is open
source [5], everything can be forked, and that's fine.

[1] [http://adblockplus.org/blog/typo-correction-feature-in-
adblo...](http://adblockplus.org/blog/typo-correction-feature-in-adblock-plus)

[2]
[http://adblockplus.org/en/features#tracking](http://adblockplus.org/en/features#tracking)

[3] [http://adblockplus.org/en/acceptable-
ads](http://adblockplus.org/en/acceptable-ads)

[4] [http://adblockplus.org/en/acceptable-
ads#criteria](http://adblockplus.org/en/acceptable-ads#criteria)

[5] [https://hg.adblockplus.org/](https://hg.adblockplus.org/)

[6]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5947553](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5947553)

~~~
fhd2
Wow, the headline has been fixed. Gotta love HN. It used to be: "Adblock Plus
is changing Amazon refs", now it's "Adblock Plus “typo correction” feature
adds affiliate IDs to links". (I'll have to point out though that this is not
a major point in TFA, I didn't even see that mentioned in there.)

Yup, that's right. This is the URL fixing functionality only implemented in
ABP for Firefox. If you type amazorn.com, Adblock Plus will correct it for you
(if you activated this feature, it's opt-in), sending you to amazon.com.

ABP does indeed add an affiliate ID to those links, it was a monetisation
idea. We've been open about this [1] (See "Monetization"), nobody's being
tracked and nobody's seeing any extra ads.

I had and have some doubts about this making sense as a part of ABP, but I
wouldn't consider it shady.

[1] [http://adblockplus.org/blog/typo-correction-feature-in-
adblo...](http://adblockplus.org/blog/typo-correction-feature-in-adblock-plus)

~~~
edwintorok
There are some things you could improve about typo correction to make it
consistent with how you handle ad-blocking rules:

* Update the rules over HTTPS, not HTTP

* Filter preferences should show the typo-correction-rule URL, just as it does for ad-blocking rules, and it should be possible to inspect them by clicking

* typo correction should probably only be used if the target website doesn't actually exist. See elsewhere in the comments, that is what how one would normally expect it to work.

As it is now the fact that typo correction even uses an insecure, remote list
of rules is not at all obvious from the UI, instead its hidden away in the
code.

Of course its also a bit confusing on why typo correction is even part of
AdBlock Plus to begin with, as there is another extension just for that
purpose - urlfixer. If someone wants typo correction you could suggest them to
also install urlfixer, but it doesn't really make sense to have two unrelated
features in one extension. Don't try to become an extension that does
everything...

~~~
fhd2
Frankly, I have no idea why it's not being served over HTTP (there must be a
technical reason, Wladimir is a HTTPS zealot), and I'm not sure why the
corrections URL is not configurable. I bet we discussed that in the blog or
the forum, but unfortunately the site's down right now :(

As for correcting URLs that do exist, I think the idea was to avoid phishing
sites and parking sites. But IIRC we did have a considerable number of false
positives, so it's a questionable approach.

I'll argue for removing it from ABP now. URL Fixer is from us as well (it's
the same code we have in ABP), so anyone who liked it can just install that.
I'd rather have ABP do one thing, and do it well, feature creep is a thing...

Edit: It's decided, we'll remove the feature.

------
Sujan
The allegations concerning changing referal links are based on a source file
of the extension. Did anybody check that? Any real proof or is this just a
leftover?

------
Kerrick
This must be why Amazon Associates changed their Terms of Service starting
July 1. [https://affiliate-
program.amazon.com/gp/associates/help/oper...](https://affiliate-
program.amazon.com/gp/associates/help/operating/compare)

> _“7. Except as agreed between you and us in a separate written agreement
> referencing this Participation Requirement, you will not use any Content or
> Special Link, or otherwise link to the Amazon Site, on or in connection
> with:_

> _a. any client-side software application (e.g., a browser plug-in, helper
> object, toolbar, extension, or component or any other application executable
> or installable by an end user) on any device, including computers, mobile
> phones, tablets, or other handheld devices;_

> [...]

------
tommis
There is NO proof or evidence of tampering with amazon refs.

Still a lot of people are reporting the extension or looking for alternatives
in this thread.

Seriously: Not everything you read on the web is true. This smells like a
smear campaign, nothing more - until real evidence or proof is shown of the
claims.

~~~
engtech
You have to enable the typo option and it happens.

See
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5946194](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5946194)

------
Sujan
Objection here from Till Faida (CEO) here: [http://t3n.de/news/adblock-plus-
geschaftsfuhrer-476502/](http://t3n.de/news/adblock-plus-
geschaftsfuhrer-476502/) (German)

------
flashfabrixx
The link refers to a given interview
([http://j.mp/138mDHs](http://j.mp/138mDHs)) with Till Filda (Owner of Ad
Block Plus) who gives the information that user can opt-out of the build in
"Acceptable Ads program".

In his words the reason for an acceptable ads program seems to be showing
acceptable ads (non flashing, blinking, annoying, ...) to the user which seems
legit.

Can't understand the 'Mafia' term in this. It's a free product this is their
business model. You as a user choose if you accept (or opt-out) this or leave
the product behind.

------
antoviaque
For Firefox users, there is Adblock Lite, a fork created after the "Acceptable
ads" story on AdBlock Plus a few months ago:

[https://addons.mozilla.org/en-
US/firefox/addon/adblock_lite/](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-
US/firefox/addon/adblock_lite/)

"Adblocklite is a fork of the Adblock Plus version 1.3.10 (classic UI)
extension for blocking advertisements on the web. This fork will provide the
same features as Adblock Plus 2.X and higher while keeping the old UI but
without "acceptable ads" feature."

------
beedogs
Site also seems to be suffering a mafia-like DDoS attack.

------
NIL8
This seems a lot like cookie-stuffing.

AdBlock and AdBlockPlus are free to run their company any way they want
(within reason). However, this is a serious breach of trust. They should
inform me of any change or re-direct they perform - before they do it.

------
cletus
The essence of this is you need to decide the answer to two questions:

1\. What are your personal ethics?

2\. Who do you trust?

To put (1) in context, the content on the Internet is largely provided free
but is ad-supported. When it comes to display advertising, it's sold almost
entirely on a CPM basis (it may be resold on an eCPC or eCPA basis). It is at
best only partially sold on an intent basis (meaning it's enticing you to
click on the ad or otherwise take some kind of action).

The relevance is that the most common "defence" of ad-blocking is "I never
click on ads anyway". While that _might_ be true (let's just say that the
people who claim to have never clicked on an ad is a proper superset of the
people who have never clicked on an ad) it's also irrelevant since that may
not be the intent and the publisher is getting paid to display the ad, not for
you to click on it (unlike, say, search advertising, which is intent based).

So the ethical part here is you need to decide if you're OK with denying
publishers income yet still consuming their content. If you are against ads
for whatever reason and don't consume the content, that's a position I can
respect, otherwise it just strikes me as rationalized freeloading but YMMV.

As for (2), the big players like Google who dominate display advertising are
regulated and deeply concerned (believe it or not) about privacy and the user
experience. That's why you can opt out of personalized ads [1], for example. I
may be biased [2] but I trust Google far more than I trust some fly-by-night
operation. Again, YMMV.

Recently there was a story about Ghostery reselling user data to advertisers
[3]. How much can you _really_ trust these basically unaccountable groups (in
comparison)?

I should point out that there are two issues here that intertwine:

1\. Ad-blocking;

2\. Privacy.

My personal code of ethics is I don't block ads because honestly I mentally
block them out anyway. Going to the Westin site then seeing ads for the Westin
everywhere doesn't particularly bother me.

If a site has particularly egregioius ads (I include popups, most
interstitials and any ads you need to dismiss in this category) then all bets
are off. Block away. Banner ads however? Sure, why not?

But where I draw the line is with uselessly giving away your privacy in a way
that doesn't benefit publishers at all. I include all the various "Like" and
"Share" buttons here. All of these track for no benefit to the publisher
(other than the hope that you might use one).

Those I'll happily block. Likewise if you're Quora and you blur answers
because I'm not logged in with Facebook, well you'll get technically
circumvented as well and I may just block any ads you have just because you're
being offensive.

Anyway, just consider that ad-blockers have access to a wide range of your
data as well and ask yourself what they are doing or might do with that data.
Is it really worth denying publishers income to not see an ad for shoes?
Really?

[1]:
[http://www.google.com/ads/preferences](http://www.google.com/ads/preferences)

[2]: Disclaimer: I am a Google engineer working in display advertising

[3]: [http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2013/06/ad-blocking-
extension-g...](http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2013/06/ad-blocking-extension-
ghostery-actually-sells-data-to-advertisers/)

~~~
gravitronic
Ads aren't just screen real estate. They're also bandwidth and CPU hogs.

~~~
ipsin
And a security risk, to boot.

------
dekz
[https://adblockplus.org/blog/typo-correction-feature-in-
adbl...](https://adblockplus.org/blog/typo-correction-feature-in-adblock-plus)

>Whenever typo correction brings you to the site of a large online shop an
affiliate ID will be added to the address. This makes sure that if you buy
something there we get a small amount of money from the shop.

Mentioned on their website.

------
radiospiel
The original, german text does not state that ABP actually rewrites amazon
affiliate links. It mentions "Amazon" once, in a sentence which could be
translated at "..how to justify drying up financial base (which are amazon
links) for thousands of small blogs.."

(That doesn't mean ABP does not change amazon referral links, though)

~~~
edwintorok
Could it be a typo, i.e. that adblock plus _charges_ (money) for allowing
people's amazon refs through the filter? Although if you check
exceptionrules.txt there are only 3 domains that have amazon links
whitelisted.

EDIT: apparently the 2nd page of the article writes about the possibility of
changing links.

~~~
janfoeh
It's not a typo. Here is a manual translation of the paragraph containing the
allegation:

    
    
        Schaut man sich den Quellcode von Adblock Plus an, dann stolpert man ueber die “typoRules.js”" welche Vertipper in der Adresszeile des Browsers ueber eine dann nachgeladene Datei http://urlfixer.org/download/rules.json korrigiert. Den Spass gibt es uebrigens auch als separates Add-On http://urlfixer.org, ebenfalls vom feinen Herrn Palant!
    
        Und jetzt anschnallen, denn dabei werden fuer alle internationalen Amazon-Shops automatisch die eigenen Amazon-IDs angehaengt!
    

_" If you take a look into Adblock Plus' source code, you will trip over a
"typoRules.js", which corrects typos made in your browsers' URL bar with the
help of the subsequently loaded file
[http://urlfixer.org/download/rules.json](http://urlfixer.org/download/rules.json).
By the way, you can obtain this funny little gadget as a standalone add-on
from [http://urlfixer.org](http://urlfixer.org) as well, from the same
honorable Mr. Palant!_

 _Now fasten your seatbelts, because this automatically adds their own Amazon
IDs for all international Amazon shops!_

------
MattDL
Isn't it possible to just check the source code of FireFox addons?

Would be good if somebody could confirm if that is the case.

~~~
grimtrigger
Can anyone confirm/deny if the article points to any specific code? It's down.

------
philtar
Can anyone actually confirm this?

~~~
engtech
You have to enable the typo option and the amazon referrer rewrite happens.

See
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5946194](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5946194)

~~~
drchaos
I think the word "rewrite" is misleading in that context. ABP does not rewrite
existing referrers (which would in fact be "mafia style"), instead it adds its
own referrer when correcting/rewriting links with a typo:

    
    
      amazon.com/?tag=someReferrer will not be changed 
      amazon.comm will be rewritten to amazon.com/?tag=uf024-20

~~~
bdcravens
Not much better, arguably worse. If my intention was to go to Amazon.com,
they're now "helping" me and writing a cookie that wouldn't have been there,
and earning $ in the process. A bare WWW request should never result in
affiliate income.

~~~
DanBC
I tend to agree with you, but I'd be happy for Pinterest to convert any non-
affiliate links to affiliate links. They'd need to make it very clear what
they were doing before doing it.

I get value from Pinterest's collection, so I'm happy for them to skim a
little bit of money from my purchase. Shopping is hellish, and Pinterest makes
it easier for me.

I am aware that they got into trouble for using skimlinks to convert links. (I
think they were converting affiliate links to their affiliate links which is
pretty dodgy.)

------
nilved
Who's been using Adblock Plus after they whitelisted sites behind your back?
It jumped the shark. Move on to one of the dozens of lightweight, superior
forks.

~~~
pi18n
Recommend us one?

------
sp332
When I click the page, it just loads google translate recursively.
[http://imgur.com/JJJ231i](http://imgur.com/JJJ231i)

------
oomkiller
On a related note, has anyone considered the fallout of a popular extensions
like Adblock/Adblock Chrome etc being compromised?

------
izietto
NoSCript [http://noscript.net/](http://noscript.net/) is way better

