Ad filtering
Ad filtering or ad blocking is removing or altering advertising content in a webpage. Advertising can exist in a variety of forms including pictures, animations, text, or pop-up windows. More advanced filters allow fine-grained control of advertisements through features such as blacklists, whitelists, and regular expression filters. Certain security features also have the effect of disabling some ads.
The benefits include quicker loading and cleaner looking Web pages free from advertisements, lower resource waste (bandwidth, CPU, memory, etc.), and privacy benefits gained through the exclusion of the tracking and profiling systems of ad delivery platforms.
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[edit] Economic consequences for online business
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One consequence is decreased revenue to the website that was sustained by advertisements.[1]
A number of website operators, who use online advertisements to fund the hosting of their websites, argue that the use of ad-blocking software risks cutting off their revenue stream. While some websites have successfully implemented subscription and membership based systems for revenue, the majority of websites today rely on online advertising to function. The assumption that users can visit a website for free, with advertisements to pay for the hosting, has led some operators to go as far as to call the use of ad filtering tantamount to theft.[1]
Some websites have taken counter-measures against ad-blocking software, such as attempting to detect the presence of ad blockers and informing users of their views, or outright preventing users from accessing the content unless they disable the ad-blocking software. There have been several arguments supporting[2] and opposing[3] the assertion that blocking ads is wrong.[4] Adblock Plus developer Wladimir Palant responded to this in his blog.[5]
[edit] Browser Integration
Almost all modern web browsers include a pop-up blocker. Opera, Konqueror, Maxthon 2, and Internet Explorer 8[6] also include content filtering, which prevents external files such as images or JavaScript files from loading. Content filtering can be added to Mozilla Firefox and related browsers with Adblock Plus, and a number of sources provide regularly updated filter lists. For Internet Explorer there are several add-ons available like Simple Adblock, IE7Pro, Adblock Pro and Quero that also allows users to temporarily unblock blocked content. A rudimentary content blocking feature is integrated in Opera and does not require an add-on. For Google Chrome, which has had extensions available since v2.0, the AdSweep and FlashBlock extensions are available, as well as AdBlock Plus and AdBlockforChrome. Another method for filtering advertisements uses CSS rules to hide specific HTML and XHTML elements.
[edit] External programs
A number of external applications offer ad filtering as a primary or additional feature. A traditional solution is to customize an HTTP proxy (or web proxy) to filter content. These programs work by caching and filtering content before it is displayed in a user's browser. This provides an opportunity to remove not only ads but also content which may be offensive, inappropriate, or simply junk. Popular proxy software which blocks content effectively include Privoxy, Squid, Proximodo, Adextinguisher, Ad Muncher, Death 2 Ads, Guidescope and Proxomitron. The main advantage of the method is freedom from implementation limitations (browser, working techniques) and centralization of control (the proxy can be used by many users). The major drawback is that the proxy sees only raw content and thus it's difficult to handle JavaScript-generated content.
[edit] Hosts file
Further information: hosts file.
This method exploits the fact that most operating systems store a file with IP address, domain name pairs which is consulted by most browsers before using a DNS server to look up a domain name. By assigning the local 127.0.0.1 IP number to each known Ad server, the user directs traffic intended to reach each Ad server to the local machine. Running a suitable web server locally the ad content can be replaced with anything the user wishes.
[edit] DNS Filtering
Advertising can be blocked by using a DNS server which is configured to block access to domains or hostnames which are known to serve ads. Examples are AdBarricade, DNS Redirector, DNSKong and OpenDNS[7].
[edit] See also
- Ad server
- Adversarial information retrieval
- Hosts file filtering
- Proxy server#Content filter
- Proxomitron
- Adblock Plus
- AdBlock (Chrome)
[edit] Common advertising techniques
- Pop-up ads
- Plain text
- Ad banners
- Flash animations
- Keyword hyperlinks (for example Vibrant Media's IntelliTXT)
- Browser plugins/extensions (often labeled as adware)
- External applications (see adware, spyware)
[edit] References
- ^ McDougall, Paul (2007-09-12). "Firefox AdBlock Foe Calls For Mozilla Boycott". Informationweek. http://www.informationweek.com/news/201805865. Retrieved 2011-11-04.
- ^ "Ad Blocking is Immoral | The Google Cache: Search Engine Marketing, SEO & PPC". The Google Cache. 2007-08-02. http://www.thegooglecache.com/white-hat-seo/ad-blocking-is-immoral/. Retrieved 2011-11-04.
- ^ "Adblock: Adapt, or die.Service Assurance Daily: Anything and everything that affects IT performance, from the mundane to the bizarre - Network Performance Blog". Networkperformancedaily.com. 2007-09-05. http://www.networkperformancedaily.com/2007/09/adblock_adapt_or_die_1.html. Retrieved 2011-11-04.
- ^ Kirk, Jeremy (2007-08-23). "Firefox ad-blocker extension causes angst | Applications". InfoWorld. http://www.infoworld.com/t/applications/firefox-ad-blocker-extension-causes-angst-900. Retrieved 2011-11-04.
- ^ "Adblock Plus and (a little) more: Ads don't generate money". Adblockplus.org. https://adblockplus.org/blog/ads-dont-generate-money. Retrieved 2011-11-04.
- ^ Paul Thurrott. "IE8: Ad blocking with the InPrivate Filter". http://community.winsupersite.com/blogs/paul/archive/2009/04/03/ie8-ad-blocking-with-the-inprivate-filter.aspx. Retrieved 5-October-2009.
- ^ "Useful Free Tool: Use OpenDNS to Block Ads". uneasysilence.com. 11 February 2008. http://uneasysilence.com/archive/2008/02/12961/. Retrieved 20 September 2010.
