Adblock Plus, starting with version 2.0, is going to start allowing acceptable ads, something I see as a good thing.
I’m not against advertising–I use it on my own site. I’d prefer not to have an all-or-nothing approach to ad blocking. In fact, I only started blocking ads when I started getting malware that I expected was coming from booby-trapped ads. I stopped getting the malware when I started blocking all ads, so draw your own conclusions.
Specifically, I object to two things. Drive-by software installation is the highest on my list; as far as I’m concerned, if an entity starts doing that, that entity loses its right to exist. We wouldn’t accept stores placing GPS devices on or making potentially harmful modifications to our cars while we’re inside shopping, and this is equivalent to that.
I also object to blinky crap. When an ad is pulsating neon colors and moving stuff rapidly, it’s very difficult to read the content next to it.
Both problems get blocked with this new setting, so that’s a big plus.
I was going to say I object to profiling, but that’s a two-way street. Ads offering good deals on low-end Android tablets and SSDs are useful to me, perhaps even welcome. But ads pushing pickup trucks and minivans are junk to me. If it doesn’t get 30 miles to the gallon, I’m just not interested. Period. But that’s just me. Maybe some people would rather see irrelevant ads in exchange for a greater degree of privacy, and that’s fine.
There are people–the Adblock Plus developers believe it’s about 25% of its user base–who object to any and all advertising. They’ll be against this. That’s why there’s a setting to disable all ads. I believe, for the 75% of us, that this change is a good thing overall.
David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He started his career as a part-time computer technician in 1994, worked his way up to system administrator by 1997, and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He invests in real estate on the side and his hobbies include O gauge trains, baseball cards, and retro computers and video games. A University of Missouri graduate, he holds CISSP and Security+ certifications. He lives in St. Louis with his family.