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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.
Adblock Plus gets its own Android browser
Whatever your views are on online advertising, it's here to stay. But that doesn't mean that companies aren't doing all they can to strip the web of ads on your behalf. Perhaps the most notable is Adblock Plus, which has made a name for itself by delivering browser extensions so efficient that Google and Microsoft have paid to be whitelisted. After briefly enjoying a period on the Play Store before it was pulled by the search giant in 2013, Adblock Plus today makes a return to Google's marketplace in the form of a browser.
Safari Block 2 released
Mat posted about Safari 3 Adblock earlier this week. To me, the most impressive feature of that plug-in is its support for Adblock Plus filter subscriptions. In that same vein, SafariBlock, a program TUAW has covered in the past has received a significant update. In version 2.0, not only is the plug-in now open souce, but it is also compatible with AdBlock Plus subscriptions! It's Leopard compatibility has been improved from version 1.3.1 as well. I had some trouble getting SafariBlock 2 installed (the installer and a manual installation gave me errors), but the plug-in ended up working just fine.Having played around with both plug-ins, I think that they both have their pros and cons. While SafariAdblock seems to be a little bit better at distinguishing between ad and non-ad flash videos (SafariBlock automatically whites out some video windows that are actual content, even if they appear near an ad header), SafariBlock is much better at working with web forms and sites that need to launch an action in either another window or in some sort of pop-up.In any event, AdBlock Plus filter support has instantly transformed my Safari experience - bringing one of my favorite Firefox features to a browser that tends to be more stable on my system. Plus, SafariBlock is free - and I'm a big fan of free.Thanks egordin!
