
Ad code 'slows down' browsing speeds - bemmu
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-47252725
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ScannerSparkly
Looks like the user just can't win - either we get super annoying and
intrusive ads or poorly written ad code that slows downs pages and ruins the
experience.

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hilbert42
I toggle JavaScript on only when it's absolutely essential—which for me isn't
very often. On my machines ads have been 'yesterday' for many years, I simply
never come across them in the course of my normal browsing! To achieve this,
my first line of defense is killing JavaScript. Moreover, killing JavaScript
is not only the simplest method of getting rid of ads and trackers; it's also
the single most effective way to do so with minimum effort! Every extra step
of the ad-killing process, ad-blockers, etc. is just extra bootstrapping for a
system that's already running at 80-90% efficiency.

There is absolutely no other process or combination thereof that can speed up
web pages as quickly and effectively as does killing JavaScript. Without JS
scripts running on web pages the increase in page rendering is really quite
startling, pages display almost instantly and do so without those nasty
delays, hesitations and stutters. In fact, if I accidentally leave JS on then
forget about it, the next time I use my browser I'll detect it's presence
almost instantly (even if there aren't any ads present) simply by virtue of
the way pages work and display—everything just runs so much more sluggishly
with JS switched on!

Every non-JavaScript user knows these secrets but we know there's little point
in telling the world about them, as the millions of unfortunate addicted
lemmings who use Facebook, Google and Amazon etc. have actually become
addicted through the mechanism of JavaScript, thus it’s become impossible for
them to quit using it.

Like any addictive drug that's not yet been regulated, JavaScript has become
the web's 'electronic heroin' and it underpins just about everything these Big
Tech companies use to addict users—essentially, JavaScript is central to all
of their additive apps, without it, these companies would be history (no
wonder they're pivotal in JS standards committees and JS standardization).

JavaScript developers are fully aware of this but they keep quite mum about it
because it pays their bread and butter (shame there's SFA ethics involved
here, isn't it?).

Unfortunately, JavaScript's key problem is that as a language it's just too
powerful and it's this power that enables big tech and others to invade users'
machines, steal their data, profile their machines, etc etc. BTW, if you still
think that doing this is actually acceptable then read the UK Parliament's
just-published report on the matter of Facebook et al (link is below).

Until most states enact punitive laws and regulations to reign in big tech and
rampant privacy-killing ads, and or the present version of JavaScript is
replaced with a much more privacy-friendly user-centric version, then it seems
to me the only alternative is not to run JS at all—and that's what I've
practiced for years.

What's desperately needed is a 'plug-in' that replaces current JavaScript
engines in browsers with ones that take control away from the server side (big
tech, etc.) and then hands it over to users. JavaScript engine replacements
built along these lines would effectively allow users to tell website whatever
they would want websites and trackers to know. For example, users could then
feed websites and trackers with randomized junk; but that's just the
beginning, the possibilities are almost endless.

One problem I foresee is that we may need governments to legislate to force
Big Tech to allow JS engine replacements (in browsers such as Chrome, etc.).
Irrespective, the current situation where we users are being continually
'raped' from server-side cannot continue as is.

Seems to me we need a crowd-funded campaign along such lines now.

UK Parliament Report on Big Tech (Facebook et al):
[https://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-
a-z...](https://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-
select/digital-culture-media-and-sport-committee/news/fake-news-report-
published-17-19/)

