
Adblock Plus: the tiny plugin threatening the internet's business model - jonathansizz
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/oct/14/the-tiny-german-company-threatening-the-internets-business-model
======
cstross
Frankly, I hate advertising -- ALL advertising, not just web advertising --
and want the advertising industry to die in a fire. I recognize this is a bit
controversial, especially with Americans (who seem unable to conceive of
content industries that can exist in the absence of advertising: the BBC and
the entire book publishing industry apparently exist in a cognitive blind
spot), but advertising is mostly oriented around selling us stuff _we don 't
want or need_, and as such it shares many characteristics with spam; it's
insidious, intrusive, tries to steal your attention, and works by instilling
uncertainty and self-doubt.

Yes, 90% of the web would die without advertising -- but I think we'd be
better off with just the 10% left over, because it'd be the _best_ 10% (the
stuff that has a viable business model that works without advertising).

~~~
iambateman
I don't think you really hate advertising as much as you say.

You get to use tons and tons of great sites without paying money, because the
good people of ADVERT_CO paid for your attention.

Advertising gives you something you want, so you pay attention to something
you don't want. But unless you want to pay a subscription fee to every site
you use, it's not a bad deal at all.

~~~
lazyjones
> _But unless you want to pay a subscription fee to every site you use, it 's
> not a bad deal at all._

There are websites out there that do not rely on ads and do not require a paid
subscription to be used (I built one, a CSE).

~~~
dhimes
How do they stay in business? And, what is a CSE?

~~~
lazyjones
> How do they stay in business?

Make users happy, provide useful content, help them save time and make
informed choices when purchasing. Has worked for 14 years so far.

> what is a CSE?

Comparison Shopping Engine.

~~~
dhimes
So, they get a get money for sales? A percentage or something? Genuinely
curious.

EDIT: I see you've answered this question above.

When I'm doing serious comparison shopping, I use a subscription site. I feel
better about the reduced incentive to inflate recommendations.

Although the subscription site does make mistakes, it's usually in the
durability side of things (they can't test a new product for three years and
have the results by April).

The comparison shopping sites are quite nice once I know what I'm looking for,
however.

------
susi22
There is a HUGE controversy about Adblock plus. One blogger uncovered some of
their business methods. They have Mafia like structures and extort businesses.
Unfortunately it's only in German and I have yet to find an English site
report about it.

Main article (very detailed):

[http://www.mobilegeeks.de/adblock-plus-undercover-
einblicke-...](http://www.mobilegeeks.de/adblock-plus-undercover-einblicke-in-
ein-mafioeses-werbenetzwerk/)

They've been trying to cover up their methods and simply lied about it. Stay
away from Adblock Plus.

Some shorter article:

[http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Adblock-Plus-
Weitere-...](http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Adblock-Plus-Weitere-
Vorwuerfe-und-Widersprueche-1909535.html)

~~~
dhimes
Is there an alternative?

~~~
andyn
I use "Adblock Edge" as an alternative. It's basically a fork of adblock plus
but without the "acceptable ads" feature.

~~~
linker3000
I never appreciated the difference or history of the Adblock and Adblock Plus
plugins. I'm currently removing ABP from all my desktops and laptops in favour
of Adblock Edge. Thanks.

------
degenerate
I've been happily using Adblock Edge (a fork of ABP without the acceptable ads
feature): [https://addons.mozilla.org/En-us/firefox/addon/adblock-
edge/](https://addons.mozilla.org/En-us/firefox/addon/adblock-edge/)

I allow ads on sites I support and respect, and everyone else gets blocked.
I'd rather do that myself than have ABP decide that for me.

Unfortunately ABE is not available for Chrome (see
[https://bitbucket.org/adstomper/adblockedge/issue/23/adblock...](https://bitbucket.org/adstomper/adblockedge/issue/23/adblock-
edge-for-chrome)), so I still use ABP on Chrome. Is there an alternative out
there yet?

~~~
nathan_long
Yes. AdBlock ([https://getadblock.com](https://getadblock.com)) is actually
the most popular extension on Chrome, more than Adblock Plus. It blocks solely
based on your filter subscriptions and custom rules and is funded solely by
usrs.

[https://getadblock.com/adblock-is-not-adblock-
plus](https://getadblock.com/adblock-is-not-adblock-plus)

------
iambateman
Here's the problem...anything that _can_ be done, will be done. And ads can be
blocked online. It's just reality. Like digital music will be copied and
secret government problems will be leaked and embarrassing pictures of
politicians will surface online.

It doesn't matter what you _want_ to happen. It's just going to.

So we, as people who profit from the web, need to think about structuring our
businesses in such a way that the inevitable doesn't kill our work.

(FWIW, Adblock's business model is apparently extortion, which makes me sick.)

------
nathan_long
Please note: This article is about Adblock Plus. AdBlock is a completely
separate extension with different developers, and is 100% user-supported.

Details: [https://getadblock.com/adblock-is-not-adblock-
plus](https://getadblock.com/adblock-is-not-adblock-plus)

------
_Lemon_
As an alternative, I switched to Adblock Edge: [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-
us/firefox/addon/adblock-edge/](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-
us/firefox/addon/adblock-edge/)

------
jacquesm
Adblockers should just block ads, not be used to extort money once they reach
a certain level of adoption.

------
SudoNick
Given that the business model in question has come to revolve around highly
targeted advertising achieved via extensive tracking and profiling of users,
it certainly deserves to be threatened.

Unfortunately, the AdblockPlus "acceptable ads" criteria don't address the
privacy issues. So the ABP folks are actually promoting advertising standards
and ads that are intrusive. To make matters worse, this "ad blocker" that
supposedly "protects your online privacy" is purposely equipped with a
material defect in the form of an enabled by default whitelist that allows
many ads through including those that are harmful to your privacy. Those
unsuspecting users who fail to learn of this and/or those who forget to opt-
out can get burned.

------
Sagat
Ads make for some interesting doublethink.

One one hand, I hate the consumer oriented society that wastes resources on a
ton of useless products; I despise the scummy advertisers who manipulate
people into pursuing the wrong goals. On the other, I like having stuff and
will happily buy things to put inside my home and on my person. I am totally
dependent on the consumer ecosystem and I enjoy creature comforts.

That said, when I truly need something I will make a targeted search for it.
It's really rare to see ads that actually interest me. So I am generally
extremely hostile to the ad business. I hate everything about them, because
they symbolize the uncomfortable truths and compromises our society rests
upon. They are everywhere and mostly do nothing but sap your mental energy.

------
nathan_long
The advertising problem is very strange. There is content we do want which we
could have by paying a small amount. But we're (by and large) unwilling. So we
get ads.

A tiny fraction of the ads are clicked, and a tiny fraction of the money spent
on that product goes back to the content producer. And that's enough to fund
them.

We could avoid seeing 100 ads which end up giving 10 cents to the site if we'd
just pay 10 cents each.[1] It would be nicer for us and simpler for the
content producers. But we're not willing, apparently.

It seems perverse to claim that we value good articles and shows if we force
the creators to sell us boots in order to make a living.

Oh, micropayments, when will we find a workable system for you?

[1] Made-up numbers

------
gabemart
> But sites are rarely paid “per click”.

Doesn't google AdSense alone count for a non-trivial portion of internet
advertising? Unless the rules are different for bigger partners, all AdSense
revenue is per click.

------
Nursie
I don't like the implied threat stuff going on here. I may look for a
different ad blocking solution. But that article was pretty shrill.

As far as I'm concerned, most online advertising is malware.

~~~
tekmate
if you don't want to support eyeo there's a fork of ABP called adblock edge.

works just as well, without the acceptable ads racket

------
jonathansizz
Can anyone shed some light on the Hacker News story ranking algorithm?

After 1 hour, this submission was in third place on the front page, then I
checked again about 15 minutes later and it had dropped to 93rd place, on page
4! There are many other stories that are both older and have fewer points that
are higher up the rankings. Judging by the number of comments, this link is
obviously a story of interest to HN.

Just curious what's going on..

~~~
bsullivan01
Employes of a certain company that starts with G do this on stories harmful to
their employer. I'd bet that's the reason.

~~~
jonathansizz
So the ranking isn't simply based on a combination of age and upvotes? I see.

~~~
bsullivan01
I _think_ it also has to do with a rush new votes up or down. Sort of trending

------
MichaelMoser123
I have written a short article on adds and 'peak advertising'. Might be of
interest.

[http://mosermichael.github.io/cstuff/all/blogg/2013/10/14/po...](http://mosermichael.github.io/cstuff/all/blogg/2013/10/14/post.1.html)

------
peterwwillis
_" The Internet's business model"_

The internet is a single business with one business model? Holy shit. It must
work well, as I hear the internet's all the rage with the young folks.
Should've invested sooner.

------
psn
Hah. I recall antispam companies doing the same thing - once they got big
enough, they demanded money from major mail exchanges. I'm sure companies paid
out rather than risk long legal cases and poor PR.

------
maaarghk
Thanks, due to this post I have switched from ABP on chrome to Adblock. Had no
idea the ABP people were acting in this way, will try to spread the word.

------
bsullivan01
Ads are fine, up to a point. If the page is almost all ads and not marked
clearly as so, then F that company.

But these AdBlock PLUS guys are extortionists. Google paid and their ads are
"acceptable." all of the sudden. (Disclaimer: not a fan of Google at all)
Google being the world's largest advertiser is leading the way in putting the
entire business model at risk, ruining ads for everyone. They started with no
ads, then a few ads on the side, then on top, then 2-5 on top and 12 on the
sides, now ads everywhere and just a few results hidden by ads. Now the
product search is 100% ads and I doubt that most people know (not everyone
reads HN and Ars) I posted them before but this is a disgrace and it's not
receiving the needed attention from the media:

[http://i.imgur.com/mhJhc5W.png](http://i.imgur.com/mhJhc5W.png)

[http://ho9od35yvs05ejqn.zippykid.netdna-cdn.com/wp-
content/u...](http://ho9od35yvs05ejqn.zippykid.netdna-cdn.com/wp-
content/uploads/2011/12/Google-Adwords-HD-Monitor.jpg)

