ad blocking
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Chrome will clamp down on sites with annoying video ads
As part of its ongoing efforts to block annoying video ads, Chrome has announced a new set of video advertising standards. The guidelines are based on data from the Coalition of Better Ads, which says there are three types of video advertising that people hate most. Chrome is taking a strong stance against these ad types, and it says website owners have four months to stop running the intrusive ads, or they will risk losing advertising completely.
Senator asks FTC to investigate questionable ad blocking practices (updated)
You're not the only one concerned that ad blocking companies may have taken customers for a ride by whitelisting advertisers willing to pay. Senator Ron Wyden has sent a letter to the FTC asking the regulator to investigate ad blocking companies over "unfair, deceptive and anti-competitive" practices, including implementing whitelists without giving users a choice. When AdBlock was sold to an unnamed buyer and joined Adblock Plus' Acceptable Ads whitelist program, it "likely" broke federal law by automatically changing privacy terms without obtaining the necessary explicit permission.
Microsoft's Edge browser will offer ad blocking (update: with third-party extensions)
Ad blockers continue to go mainstream as Microsoft revealed its Edge browser will soon have the tech built right in. The feature was spotted by ZDNet during a Build 2016 presentation, where a slide showed that the software giant will "build ad blocking features into the browser" in the next release. The wording implies that the feature may work natively without third-party extensions, which is a good thing since Edge only just started supporting those. However, the same slide also shows that Microsoft plans to "provide a modern extension/plug-in model," complete with a store, for the next Edge release.
Samsung rolls out its ad-blocking Android browser
Owners of certain Samsung devices now have a new browser option: Samsung's very own "Internet" app. Wait, don't go! You may have given up on the app long ago, but version 4.0 has some pretty interesting features. All versions of Android on Samsung devices (not just Marshmallow) now get content blocking (aka ad-blocking), provided you have a dedicated third-party app installed. The other notable feature is "Secret" mode, which is like Chrome's Incognito or Firefox's private browsing settings. However, Samsung has added authentication and encryption to more fully protect your internet browsing history.
Apple pulls ad-blocking apps that can 'compromise' security
Apple has removed several ad-blocking apps from its Store that created a risk of "man-in-the-middle" security breaches. While Apple now permits ad-blockers for Safari, the banned apps also block ads from native apps by installing their own "root certificates" and shunting all traffic through a VPN. From there, they read the unencrypted traffic and remove ads, provided you enable the feature. As spotted by Techcrunch, one of the apps Apple removed was "Been Choice," software that even removed ads from Apple's own News app. However, it was also gathering "behavioral data" and sharing it with other companies, offering users points and cash rewards in exchange.
Google yanks ad-blocking apps from Play Store, points to developer agreement
You know how it goes -- "rules" are only "rules" if someone bothers to enforce them. And enforce Google has. While programs such as AdBlock, AdAway, AdFree and the like have been running unabated for quite some time now, Google has evidently buckled down and yanked the lot of 'em overnight. Of course, the company's Play Store developer agreement already makes clear that apps designed specifically to hinder the natural course of advertising won't be allowed, but it's certainly interesting to see the company finally making good on its words. Specifically, the agreement states: "You agree that you will not engage in any activity with the Market, including the development or distribution of Products, that interferes with, disrupts, damages, or accesses in an unauthorized manner the devices, servers, networks, or other properties or services of any third party including, but not limited to, Android users, Google or any mobile network operator." See that bit about third-party clients' services? We're guessing that it's in reference to implementations of advertising code. Looks like the wild, wild west has a sheriff in town.
Camino 1.0.1 with security, Java, Keychain updates
Hot on the heels of Firefox releasing a 1.5.0.3 security update, Camino has been bumped to 1.0.1 with mostly security and bug fixes which include: Fixed several critical security issues, including those fixed in version 1.8.0.3 of the Mozilla Gecko rendering engine. Upgraded the bundled Java Embedding Plugin (http://javaplugin.sf.net) to version 0.9.5 d Improved ad-blocking, especially of German ads Enabled the opening of local SVG files Fixed an issue where Camino on Intel-based Macs was unable to read Keychain entries stored by Camino on PowerPC-based Macs As always, you can snag a copy from CaminoBrowser.org.
Pith Helmet plugin updated
Pith Helmet, for those not in the know, is a powerful ad-blocking plugin for Safari. It offers a ton of options as well as the handy ability to specify blocking and rules on a per-site basis, kinda like OmniWeb 5. The plugin recently had an update, fixing a couple issues including odd behavior with "feed://" URL's, and there were some improvements to the rule set. You can grab the shareware plugin over at - where else - PimpMySafari.com, and a license will cost you a cool $10.
