uBlock VS AdNauseam

uBlock Origin always worked best in Firefox anyhow:

https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/uBlock-Origin-works-b...

With these internet connections, I really hope the local techies are helping set people up uBlock Origin, running something like ClearURLs to short-circuit unnecessary redirects (I assume GEO latency), and running LocalCDN to avoid re-downloading the same libraries and assets over and over. Probably also good to install something that defaults Youtube to 360p, and Pihole for mobile/smart devices.

I would run uBO in Medium Mode[1], but I expect that's probably too much for most non-technical users.

[1] https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock

*uMatrix is unmaintained, and uBlock Origin can do fine-grained control – it just requires the “advanced user” setting for some reason, even if you expand the panels all the way. https://github.com/gorhill/ublock/wiki/quick-guide:-popup-us... (see “I am an advanced user!” expanding section at the bottom)

No issues here on Firefox 128.4.0esr, even with uBlock Origin medium mode[1] blocking 31% of the page.

[1] https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Blocking-mode:-medium...

uBlock Origin works best on Firefox: https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/uBlock-Origin-works-b...

That is the reason they went absolutely crazy when adnauseam was introduced, as it used a different approach: it didn't block ads but loaded them in an invisible way, then "clicked" them randomly so that although the user wasn't pestered by ads, advertisers would get completely bogus click through data.

https://github.com/dhowe/AdNauseam

It does not actually clicks on the ads. It sends the request to ad server but does not execute any response from the server, so it's safe to run

https://github.com/dhowe/AdNauseam/wiki/FAQ#how-does-adnause...

>https://github.com/dhowe/AdNauseam/wiki/FAQ#how-does-adnause...

>AdNauseam 'clicks' Ads by issuing an HTTP request to the URL to which they lead. In current versions the is done via an XMLHttpRequest (or AJAX request) issued in a background process. This lightweight request signals a 'click' on the server responsible for the Ad, but does so without opening any additional windows or pages on your computer. Further it allows AdNauseam to safely receive and discard the resulting response data, rather than executing it in the browser, thus preventing a range of potential security problems (ransomware, rogue Javascript or Flash code, XSS-attacks, etc.) caused by malfunctioning or malicious Ads. Although it is completely safe, AdNauseam's clicking behaviour can be de-activated in the settings panel.

Isn't this easily detectable? XHRs are easily detectable through various headers, so it's trivial to filter out the fake traffic from this extension. Failing that, thanks to ad fraud there's a whole industry of bot/ad fraud detection firms using browser fingerprinting and behavioral analysis to detect fake ad clicks. I have no doubt that an extension that's "clicking" on every ad using XHR is going to get detected and filtered.

I'd think it's infeasible for advertisers to regularly audit third-party apps on reddit's behalf to make sure the ads they're paying to display aren't being requested but cosmetically hidden or even shadow-clicked. I'm sincerely curious if there are any example platforms that do this with their API; I can't find anything after a search.

What is your opinion on AdNauseam?

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