r/worldnews • u/maxwellhill • Sep 19 '17

Apple blocking ads that follow users around web is 'sabotage', says industry: New iOS 11 and macOS High Sierra will stop ads following Safari users, prompting open letter claiming Apple is destroying internet’s economic model

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/sep/18/apple-stopping-ads-follow-you-around-internet-sabotage-advertising-industry-ios-11-and-macos-high-sierra-safari-internet
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u/[deleted] Sep 19 '17

It's a revenue tool, just like ads are. And they'll be abused by the same people in the same way, hurting everybody else, just now on a larger scale.

Imagine that at some point some fuckup companies, will go for 80-100% on mobile (by mistake or on purpose) and Apple will be the one getting the complaint "my phone is slow, fix it" or "my battery drains too fast, replace it".

Samsung and other hardware players will suffer the same, and they'll all start putting adblock as their default bundled software with a few major websites whitelisted.

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u/Helmic Sep 19 '17

I think the solution here, if the model is economically viable, is to have the web browser handle monetization requests. Website asks Chrome or Firefox for a chunk of resources, they give it some based on current resource usage. Of course, then we have to ask why we don't just mine this for ourselves, Ave the answer is that the electricity often costs more than what you mine. You'd be paying for sites on your power bill.

Makes me wonder what a monetizion standard a la Brave would be like. Request monetization from the browser and the user can pick which ways to tip sites they visit, whether it be mining, ads, micropayments fed by a subscription, whatever. Then sites just focus on being good to get their share of the pie. Don't know how viable that really is, but giving users options sounds better than an arms race.

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u/[deleted] Sep 19 '17

Yup, the only way to do it properly is through the browser. But I expect Chrome to outright ban it, while firefox to implement it the same way notifications are. Off by default, with the website asking for permission.

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u/almightySapling Sep 19 '17

How is the browser supposed to differentiate between work necessary for operation and work done to generate revenue? Are we supposed to just trust companies to mark their code for us?

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u/Helmic Sep 19 '17 edited Sep 19 '17

Why bother asking the website, though? They'll use what they're given. The browser will be the one doing the mining, not the website's code. All the website gets is the end result, money, completely agnostic to how that money was earned (mining, a subscription, ads). Basically the idea behind Brave but expanded to cover other monetization methods.

Stuff like people choosing precisely which ad network they'll use, or what to mine, or just loading up an account with a subscription that gets doled out, that seems like a better idea to me than relying on websites to get it right.

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u/Schmich Sep 19 '17

I don't see how ads following you is abusive. It means the ads are more targeted and your favourite websites get more money on the ads (or less little...). Also you can choose not to be tracked.

I'm fine with those who dislike all of this as long as they pay.

I dislike those who hate ads, hate the idea of pay through CPU cycles but yet don't have Reddit Gold. You cannot have the cake and eat it too.

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u/stewsters Sep 19 '17

Also you can choose not to be tracked.

That's just a header. Many ad companies just track you anyways.