WEBVTT - TechStuff Classic: How Ad Blockers Work 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.800 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 0:00:12.000 --> 0:00:14.880 Hey there, and welcome to text Stuff. I'm your host, 0:00:15.000 --> 0:00:18.320 Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio 0:00:18.360 --> 0:00:21.119 and I love all things tech. It is time for 0:00:21.280 --> 0:00:26.840 a classic episode. This episode is called how ad Blockers Work, 0:00:27.520 --> 0:00:33.559 and it originally published on Marche. And I've got some 0:00:33.600 --> 0:00:36.280 things to say about ad blockers. I'll save it for 0:00:36.400 --> 0:00:38.800 the end, and it's likely going to be repeated in 0:00:38.840 --> 0:00:41.960 the actual episode, which you know, full disclosure, I have 0:00:42.040 --> 0:00:45.519 not gone back and listened to, so it may very 0:00:45.560 --> 0:00:48.919 well be that everything I say is repetitive. But that way, 0:00:48.960 --> 0:00:50.559 I'll just throw it at the end, and if you 0:00:50.680 --> 0:00:55.320 hear stuff I've already said, you know you just stop it. Anyway, 0:00:55.760 --> 0:01:00.480 let's go back and listen to this classic episode. Before 0:01:00.480 --> 0:01:03.240 we get started on this, We'll go ahead and say 0:01:03.280 --> 0:01:06.400 that you know, there there are the advertisers who make 0:01:06.440 --> 0:01:09.280 ads are not necessarily trying to make them to annoy you. 0:01:09.440 --> 0:01:12.440 That would actually be counter productive to what the ad 0:01:12.520 --> 0:01:15.039 is supposed to do. Well. I would argue that some 0:01:15.160 --> 0:01:19.000 ad theory um states that if you annoy an audience 0:01:19.120 --> 0:01:21.720 enough to get their attention, then that's a good thing. 0:01:22.160 --> 0:01:25.080 But that's but but we're getting into sticky territory there, 0:01:25.160 --> 0:01:27.560 and we'll we'll cover all of that as we go along. 0:01:27.640 --> 0:01:30.520 But if you wanted to hear a really simple story 0:01:30.760 --> 0:01:34.319 about how ad block came to be bad news everyone. 0:01:35.000 --> 0:01:38.120 As it turns out, ad block has got an incredibly 0:01:38.280 --> 0:01:41.560 complex story because it is one of those things where 0:01:41.600 --> 0:01:44.399 it's kind of like a hydra. You know, eventually one 0:01:44.400 --> 0:01:46.399 head would get cut off and two other heads would 0:01:46.440 --> 0:01:49.280 spring up, and those two heads would each be doing 0:01:49.440 --> 0:01:51.560 kind of what the first head did, but they're doing 0:01:51.560 --> 0:01:53.680 it in a different way, and they're not really communicating 0:01:53.680 --> 0:01:55.800 with each other, and when they do communicate with each other, 0:01:55.800 --> 0:01:57.880 they're fighting a little bit. Yeah, it's a it's one 0:01:57.920 --> 0:02:02.000 of those that it's it's not so simple as to say, like, uh, 0:02:02.000 --> 0:02:04.920 you know this one piece of software. Now it's version two, 0:02:05.040 --> 0:02:08.400 now it's version three. You actually have lots of forking 0:02:08.600 --> 0:02:12.239 going on. It's more like Windows. How Windows would occasionally 0:02:12.240 --> 0:02:15.280 fork into different groups and you're like, well, I used 0:02:15.320 --> 0:02:17.720 to be able to explain the history of Windows, but 0:02:17.800 --> 0:02:21.120 now not so much. But you can actually trace it 0:02:21.200 --> 0:02:26.720 back to a single point, a historical moment when the 0:02:26.880 --> 0:02:29.480 very first version of ad block came out, and it 0:02:29.520 --> 0:02:34.120 originally came out for the Firefox web browser. This was 0:02:34.160 --> 0:02:37.560 a browser extension. UM Firefox being open source, it allows 0:02:37.639 --> 0:02:40.480 people to developers well, I mean developers are people. I 0:02:40.480 --> 0:02:45.799 didn't mean to. UM. It allows you to create extensions 0:02:45.880 --> 0:02:48.520 or add ons for the browser in order to change 0:02:48.600 --> 0:02:52.600 or improve or to increase its functionality. Right, Yeah, because 0:02:52.600 --> 0:02:54.840 there's some things that a browser can do, and then 0:02:54.880 --> 0:02:58.520 occasionally the web develops in such a way where there's 0:02:58.520 --> 0:03:01.120 some really awesome stuff you could you if the browser 0:03:01.240 --> 0:03:03.440 just supported it, and the extensions kind of allow you 0:03:03.480 --> 0:03:07.760 to create that ability, right, and so according to one 0:03:07.880 --> 0:03:11.800 Vladimir Poland, a Danish programmer by the name of Henry 0:03:11.919 --> 0:03:15.560 Ostav Sarson, I think I got that right. Yeah, well 0:03:15.560 --> 0:03:19.040 it's definitely better than I could have. UM who developed 0:03:19.040 --> 0:03:22.200 this extension. I I don't remember now if we said 0:03:22.240 --> 0:03:25.280 already in two thousand two. No, we did not. Yeah. 0:03:25.320 --> 0:03:26.880 By the way, the reason why we said we don't 0:03:26.919 --> 0:03:30.160 know already is because you guys do not get treated 0:03:30.200 --> 0:03:33.600 to the fact that our buildings started to vibrate because 0:03:33.600 --> 0:03:36.920 of something going on somewhere inside this building, and we 0:03:37.000 --> 0:03:41.840 figured you'd rather be you know saved that experience. But yeah, 0:03:41.960 --> 0:03:44.520 three minute break in which we went what is that? Yeah, 0:03:44.600 --> 0:03:46.720 But in two thousand two, in fact, he did begin 0:03:46.800 --> 0:03:52.280 development on this. This was formally the ad Block Extension, 0:03:52.360 --> 0:03:56.480 and at that point it was spelled A D little 0:03:56.560 --> 0:03:58.800 B L O C K. No. The reason I say 0:03:58.840 --> 0:04:01.880 little B is because the other versions will talk about 0:04:02.320 --> 0:04:06.120 differentiate themselves with capitalization as well as adding other words. 0:04:06.240 --> 0:04:09.600 But this is the first one. Now, this one could 0:04:09.640 --> 0:04:12.920 block images, which at the time was pretty much the 0:04:12.960 --> 0:04:16.240 main form of web advertising. It wasn't the only one 0:04:16.279 --> 0:04:19.559 that was the main one. So things like banner ads 0:04:19.600 --> 0:04:21.159 that were at the top, or the ones that are 0:04:21.160 --> 0:04:23.359 along the side of the column, or even just inserted 0:04:23.400 --> 0:04:26.360 directly as like a picture inside an article. That's the 0:04:26.400 --> 0:04:29.120 kind of stuff that would block. Sure. And so if 0:04:29.160 --> 0:04:32.440 you found an image that you didn't like a probably 0:04:32.480 --> 0:04:35.479 because it was an add, you could add that that 0:04:35.480 --> 0:04:39.600 that images u r L to a list of blocked images, right, 0:04:39.640 --> 0:04:41.320 and it would actually go all the way back to 0:04:41.680 --> 0:04:44.560 where the source of that image came from and then 0:04:44.640 --> 0:04:47.440 start blocking other images from that source. Because, of course, 0:04:47.880 --> 0:04:51.160 if there's one advertiser that happens to run a lot 0:04:51.200 --> 0:04:53.200 of different campaigns, and back in those early days of 0:04:53.240 --> 0:04:55.080 the web, there were a few that had lots and 0:04:55.120 --> 0:04:59.679 lots of clients. You could essentially blanket block a whole 0:04:59.760 --> 0:05:03.039 list stuff advert right. It was pretty effective at the time. Yeah, yeah, 0:05:03.120 --> 0:05:06.400 for for images. Anyway, they did have some downs sides. 0:05:06.480 --> 0:05:08.880 One of the downsides was that it did not actually 0:05:08.920 --> 0:05:12.760 prevent the web page from loading the image. In fact, 0:05:12.800 --> 0:05:17.080 that the earliest version, which they called point three. Uh 0:05:17.200 --> 0:05:19.760 I assume that versions point one and point two or 0:05:19.839 --> 0:05:23.960 earlier dat yeah, yeah, and never were released. But this 0:05:24.000 --> 0:05:28.400 point three one, it did not prevent the images from 0:05:28.400 --> 0:05:30.400 loading at all. It would, in fact, first load the 0:05:30.520 --> 0:05:33.839 entire web page images and all, and then block those ads. 0:05:34.000 --> 0:05:37.400 Right now, this was an important deal, Like people really 0:05:37.440 --> 0:05:41.000 wanted to have it blocked, not just you know, from view, 0:05:41.080 --> 0:05:44.160 but blocked period so it wouldn't download. Not just because 0:05:44.200 --> 0:05:47.280 people thoughts or at least some people thought that advertising 0:05:47.360 --> 0:05:51.760 was really intrusive and and it decreased their enjoyment of 0:05:51.760 --> 0:05:54.760 the surfing experience visually annoying, but also was using up 0:05:55.320 --> 0:06:00.440 precious memory and usage bandwidth. Yeah, so you would take 0:06:00.480 --> 0:06:03.520 you extra time to download a web page because I 0:06:03.600 --> 0:06:06.320 had to download all of those assets, including the ads, 0:06:06.320 --> 0:06:08.839 and if you could turn those ads off, then the 0:06:08.880 --> 0:06:10.800 web pages would load faster. You know, this is the 0:06:10.880 --> 0:06:15.640 era of dial up. You know, I remember that era well, uh, 0:06:16.800 --> 0:06:19.760 not happily, but I do remember it well. I couldn't 0:06:19.760 --> 0:06:22.960 have find memories of it, not at all. Uh. You 0:06:23.000 --> 0:06:24.880 know when when someone would would say, hey, you need 0:06:24.960 --> 0:06:27.440 to go and look there's this funny picture, and you 0:06:27.640 --> 0:06:30.479 click on it and then six minutes later you go 0:06:30.520 --> 0:06:32.560 and make yourself a cup of coffee. Right, You're like, well, 0:06:32.560 --> 0:06:34.320 you know, I'm just gonna go wander offer a bit. 0:06:34.520 --> 0:06:39.240 But anyway, so this ad block version was limited in 0:06:39.320 --> 0:06:43.559 its use, but it had potential. And so the next 0:06:43.640 --> 0:06:47.279 version of ad block came along from someone else. Because 0:06:47.920 --> 0:06:52.200 Sorenson was interested in creating this tool, but not necessarily 0:06:52.240 --> 0:06:56.839 interested in continually updating it and uh and and and 0:06:56.920 --> 0:06:59.599 giving it more features. It was kind of a one 0:06:59.640 --> 0:07:04.560 off for Sarrenson. So we then have a mysterious figure. 0:07:05.400 --> 0:07:07.880 So someone by the handle of Rue, whose name I'm 0:07:07.920 --> 0:07:11.080 still not sure of. Yeah, Ru are you e? As 0:07:11.120 --> 0:07:13.760 in uh, you know that that spelling not r O O. 0:07:14.440 --> 0:07:19.239 But the Ru created ad block zero point four and 0:07:19.440 --> 0:07:23.320 went in a completely different way used XML binding language 0:07:23.320 --> 0:07:26.440 also known as x b L. Now that's a web 0:07:26.680 --> 0:07:31.880 markup language, so HTML is hypertext markup language. This is 0:07:32.360 --> 0:07:37.120 similar except instead of it telling specifically like a browser, 0:07:37.160 --> 0:07:41.840 how to display things, it's more about defining specific behaviors 0:07:41.880 --> 0:07:44.200 of elements that would be displayed in a web page. 0:07:44.280 --> 0:07:49.080 So it's all about letting a program know what any 0:07:49.120 --> 0:07:51.680 particular element is supposed to be able to do, so 0:07:51.720 --> 0:07:54.239 that the computer does that thing when you make the command. 0:07:54.320 --> 0:07:57.240 So an easy example is a scroll bar. If you 0:07:57.280 --> 0:07:59.400 were to put a scroll bar within the context of 0:07:59.440 --> 0:08:02.280 a web page itself, you know this isn't this isn't 0:08:02.320 --> 0:08:05.160 the browsers scroll bar, but something that's inside the web page. 0:08:05.520 --> 0:08:08.880 Then you might use XBL to define those behaviors, so 0:08:08.960 --> 0:08:12.000 you say, when the user drags the scroll bar, this 0:08:12.080 --> 0:08:14.880 is the thing that's supposed to happen. Now, in this case, 0:08:14.920 --> 0:08:18.920 they were using XBL to sort of, uh, just prevent 0:08:19.080 --> 0:08:22.720 again these these display these ads from displaying. But it 0:08:22.760 --> 0:08:26.240 could prevent more than just images because it was working 0:08:26.280 --> 0:08:29.840 within the code of the browser. It could also prevent 0:08:30.400 --> 0:08:34.080 flash and Java objects right, and this was another big 0:08:34.160 --> 0:08:36.920 advance as far as ad blocking was concerned because anyone 0:08:36.960 --> 0:08:39.400 who has been using the web for a while knows 0:08:40.320 --> 0:08:43.400 ads that are just pictures that appear on the top 0:08:43.520 --> 0:08:45.680 or the side, or within the context of an article 0:08:45.800 --> 0:08:49.360 or something. That's just a small slice of the types 0:08:49.520 --> 0:08:51.640 of web advertising we've seen out there. There are a 0:08:51.640 --> 0:08:55.320 lot of things that have float over ads, float under ads, 0:08:55.640 --> 0:08:59.760 AutoPlay ads, which boy, are those my favorite. I definitely 0:08:59.760 --> 0:09:02.560 feel some sympathy here for folks who really get tired 0:09:02.679 --> 0:09:05.520 of ads that have, you know, a negative impact on 0:09:05.559 --> 0:09:08.720 your user expect if they're intrusive. Absolutely. I mean, if 0:09:08.760 --> 0:09:11.480 I go to a website where there's some sort of 0:09:11.520 --> 0:09:14.480 audio component that I want to listen to, and because 0:09:14.559 --> 0:09:17.560 I moved my cursor and it goes over a AD 0:09:17.679 --> 0:09:21.440 panel and then some advertising audio starts playing at the 0:09:21.440 --> 0:09:25.640 same time, that's clearly not an enjoyable experience. You can't 0:09:25.679 --> 0:09:28.640 really get around that. But anyway, Yeah, this meant that 0:09:28.720 --> 0:09:32.560 it was more useful than the point three version of 0:09:32.600 --> 0:09:35.400 ad block, But it should be said that because it 0:09:35.480 --> 0:09:38.160 was using a different approach, while it was called ad 0:09:38.160 --> 0:09:43.800 Block zero point four, it wasn't necessarily a direct descendant 0:09:43.840 --> 0:09:46.920 of ad block ad Block zero point three. And this 0:09:47.000 --> 0:09:50.880 is where we already have some confusion, right, right, further 0:09:50.960 --> 0:09:54.800 confusion would happen because Um Latimer point who who we 0:09:54.840 --> 0:09:59.240 mentioned earlier, was basically unaware of of this update going 0:09:59.240 --> 0:10:03.760 out and created his own point for right. So you 0:10:03.840 --> 0:10:07.520 have Ladimir saying, okay, I know that this this thing 0:10:07.600 --> 0:10:11.160 that Sarnsen did was useful, but it was very limited. 0:10:11.200 --> 0:10:14.600 I want to make my own approach and try and 0:10:14.640 --> 0:10:18.800 create a more versatile, useful platform to block this sort 0:10:18.840 --> 0:10:23.120 of intrusive advertising. Uh and started working on and then 0:10:23.320 --> 0:10:26.600 was prepared to release it, and then discovered through some 0:10:27.640 --> 0:10:29.720 I have no idea what the tone was from the 0:10:29.720 --> 0:10:34.120 basis of the history that that that Pollent wrote, I 0:10:34.120 --> 0:10:36.520 would like to imagine that Rue was a little miffed. 0:10:37.280 --> 0:10:40.640 Great was the message thereof and that um and that 0:10:41.160 --> 0:10:43.439 Vladimir found out that he couldn't release it as a 0:10:43.480 --> 0:10:46.120 point for because there was already a point for. So 0:10:46.240 --> 0:10:49.839 now comes the discussion of whether or not Vladimir's work 0:10:49.880 --> 0:10:54.600 should be incorporated into a point five version. So keep 0:10:54.640 --> 0:10:57.479 in mind that while this is all going on, Firefox 0:10:57.520 --> 0:11:02.480 itself is continuing to slowly release updates, which necessitates that 0:11:02.760 --> 0:11:08.360 browser extensions be updated as well. Because exactly. Yeah, So 0:11:08.720 --> 0:11:11.840 this was not, you know, just an academic discussion of 0:11:12.120 --> 0:11:14.720 should this go forward or not. It needed to keep 0:11:15.160 --> 0:11:18.679 developing for it to be useful. So his approach was 0:11:18.720 --> 0:11:23.640 to look at content policies to both predict and block ads, 0:11:23.679 --> 0:11:27.680 which ended up being an advance over the previous versions 0:11:27.679 --> 0:11:30.839 because it was finally allowing the user to have these 0:11:30.880 --> 0:11:34.120 ads blocked before the page even loaded. So now we 0:11:34.200 --> 0:11:37.120 get into that that era where things can be sped 0:11:37.280 --> 0:11:39.920 up because you don't need to load all the assets. 0:11:40.440 --> 0:11:43.800 He also had this discussion with Rue about what needs 0:11:43.880 --> 0:11:46.320 to be done. They decided to kind of collaborate, but 0:11:46.400 --> 0:11:52.199 according to Plans history, he got very frustrated that Ru 0:11:52.559 --> 0:11:56.800 would kind of piecemeal pick the bits that Vladimir had 0:11:56.840 --> 0:12:00.600 created and then ignore everything else. And Laddim felt that 0:12:01.000 --> 0:12:03.440 a lot of the things he had contributed were being 0:12:03.480 --> 0:12:06.680 ignored and that uh, and that some of the things 0:12:06.800 --> 0:12:09.960 he had made we're being used in ways he had 0:12:10.000 --> 0:12:13.360 not intended. There was one in particular way said users 0:12:13.400 --> 0:12:16.480 were complaining about this particular interface, and the problem was 0:12:16.720 --> 0:12:19.760 I had never intended users to be activating this interface. 0:12:19.800 --> 0:12:23.720 It wasn't meant for us. But now it's part of 0:12:23.760 --> 0:12:26.040 what because I'm not the one who I don't own 0:12:26.280 --> 0:12:30.040 ad block and not implementing these changes myself, and so 0:12:30.120 --> 0:12:35.040 that became kind of a source subject. So you move 0:12:35.160 --> 0:12:38.400 forward to two thousand and five, and no one had 0:12:38.440 --> 0:12:41.680 really worked on ad block. Yeah that there was still 0:12:41.720 --> 0:12:45.240 some of that xbl stuff involved, and and some of 0:12:45.840 --> 0:12:49.600 Ladimir's approaches were in there. He was kind of a mishmash. 0:12:49.679 --> 0:12:53.000 It was like a Frankenstein's Monster version of the of 0:12:53.080 --> 0:12:57.280 what what each person like rou and Ladimir had both 0:12:57.320 --> 0:13:00.840 had in mind. But out of this grew um what 0:13:00.920 --> 0:13:03.400 was going to be called ad Block Plus. Yeah. This 0:13:03.440 --> 0:13:06.680 is when a fellow named Michael McDonald who used the 0:13:06.679 --> 0:13:10.760 handle mc m came along and he created a new 0:13:10.880 --> 0:13:13.840 version going back to point three as sort of the 0:13:13.880 --> 0:13:17.840 point of inspiration with enhanced features. He did call it 0:13:17.880 --> 0:13:21.200 ad Block Plus. And at this point one of the 0:13:21.240 --> 0:13:23.720 things that was added was this ability for users to 0:13:23.960 --> 0:13:27.840 white list certain file sources so that they would still 0:13:27.880 --> 0:13:31.320 get those shown to them, right, white white listing being 0:13:31.440 --> 0:13:35.439 the opposite of blacklistings, certifying that a certain thing or 0:13:35.520 --> 0:13:39.719 person or entity is acceptable exactly. So instead of just 0:13:40.000 --> 0:13:43.199 having a giant X over any advertising, this would allow 0:13:43.200 --> 0:13:46.720 you to be more selective, so you could say, no, 0:13:46.880 --> 0:13:49.520 I want to see these particular types of ads, these 0:13:49.520 --> 0:13:55.280 ads are okay. So Vladimir and Rue continued there discussion 0:13:55.960 --> 0:14:00.280 about what should be ad block, and Ladimir even went 0:14:00.360 --> 0:14:03.120 so far as to offer to rewrite, uh the zero 0:14:03.160 --> 0:14:06.160 point five version of ad block and then adding the 0:14:06.160 --> 0:14:08.720 new features as well as try and tweak some of 0:14:08.720 --> 0:14:12.480 the stuff that he felt was clunky or not user friendly. 0:14:13.200 --> 0:14:16.680 But there was more disagreement between Rue and Ladimir, and 0:14:16.720 --> 0:14:21.880 then eventually Ladimir contacted McDonald mc m about ad Block Plus. Yeah, 0:14:21.960 --> 0:14:24.800 and m c m said, you know you can, you 0:14:24.840 --> 0:14:26.800 can come on over, you can come on over here, 0:14:26.840 --> 0:14:31.160 because I don't really want to to forever be developing 0:14:31.160 --> 0:14:36.160 this this extension, just like you know Sartinson did years ago. 0:14:36.680 --> 0:14:38.880 He you know Sartenson said, no, I made this thing, 0:14:38.920 --> 0:14:40.760 but I don't want to have to keep making it. 0:14:41.280 --> 0:14:43.680 And especially at the time Firefox was going through this 0:14:43.880 --> 0:14:46.640 kind of like update every other day sort of process, 0:14:46.680 --> 0:14:50.040 it was really rapid. Yes, So McDonald said, you know, 0:14:50.080 --> 0:14:52.960 I really don't have the time and effort that to 0:14:53.360 --> 0:14:57.560 to be the steward of this extension. So so Latimer, 0:14:57.600 --> 0:14:59.840 if you want to take it, take it, and Latimer 0:14:59.840 --> 0:15:04.240 say a yeah, okay, fine. So in January two thousand 0:15:04.240 --> 0:15:08.760 and six, they launched ad Block Plus zero point six. 0:15:09.240 --> 0:15:11.640 So again, the versions are starting to get a little 0:15:11.640 --> 0:15:15.640 confusing because this ad block Plus was not directly connected 0:15:15.640 --> 0:15:18.640 to ad Block. It existed as his own thing at 0:15:18.640 --> 0:15:22.800 the same time. So we have two different versions going on, 0:15:22.960 --> 0:15:27.480 two different approaches um and two different communities of users. 0:15:27.560 --> 0:15:31.520 So then Pilot decides he'll he'll keep on working on 0:15:31.640 --> 0:15:35.360 ad block Plus and he wanted to try. You know, 0:15:35.600 --> 0:15:38.320 it's not that he hated the old ad block. He 0:15:38.400 --> 0:15:43.560 actually tried several times to address issues because as the 0:15:43.560 --> 0:15:48.600 the extension got older and less relevant, it also became 0:15:48.680 --> 0:15:53.400 clear that there were some security vulnerabilities, and so he said, listen, guys, 0:15:53.440 --> 0:15:56.880 I found these vulnerabilities. You really should patch them. You 0:15:56.920 --> 0:15:59.760 need to. You need to update ad block so that 0:16:00.280 --> 0:16:04.640 doesn't remain a vulnerability for users. And then it got 0:16:04.680 --> 0:16:06.200 to a point where it's like, really, I mean, I 0:16:07.200 --> 0:16:09.920 can I can help do this if you need to. 0:16:10.240 --> 0:16:12.000 But it was kind of one of those things where 0:16:12.280 --> 0:16:15.680 ad Block just sort sort of began to die out 0:16:15.720 --> 0:16:20.120 at that point. In ad Block Plus was the it's 0:16:20.160 --> 0:16:22.280 wrong to say the winner because it wasn't like it 0:16:22.320 --> 0:16:24.960 was a real battle, but it's the survivor of the two. 0:16:25.160 --> 0:16:26.880 Yeah yeah, I was about to say it sounds like 0:16:26.880 --> 0:16:31.520 like internet Darwinism. Yeah yeah, it kind of is. So 0:16:31.920 --> 0:16:34.720 h then you get into I got really snarky with 0:16:34.760 --> 0:16:36.360 this note, y'all, But I'm going to go ahead and 0:16:36.360 --> 0:16:42.200 include it because schadenfreude. No. In two thousand seven, PC World, 0:16:42.760 --> 0:16:46.280 the magazine named ad Block Plus one of the one 0:16:46.800 --> 0:16:50.360 best products of two thousand seven. The reason why I 0:16:50.480 --> 0:16:52.920 felt the need to include this is because today PC 0:16:53.080 --> 0:16:58.080 World is online only. It ended its print format in 0:16:58.120 --> 0:17:02.440 two thousand thirteen, and now it depends very heavily on 0:17:02.480 --> 0:17:09.440 the online format, you know, the one that is sported. Yeah, so, um, 0:17:11.040 --> 0:17:12.560 I did. I didn't want to mention though, that that 0:17:12.560 --> 0:17:15.840 it's certainly not the only award that ad Block Plus 0:17:16.000 --> 0:17:19.520 is one. Um. For example, it also nabbed best Firefox 0:17:19.520 --> 0:17:23.600 Extension from Lennox Magazine, in which, by the way, you 0:17:23.640 --> 0:17:26.200 can still get in print, So bully for them, how 0:17:26.240 --> 0:17:30.160 about that. So then we move up to December eight, 0:17:30.240 --> 0:17:35.280 two thou nine, and boy, we just we just got 0:17:35.280 --> 0:17:37.160 to the point where we narrowed it down ad block 0:17:37.240 --> 0:17:39.320 Plus was the only player in the game. It was 0:17:39.320 --> 0:17:41.040 going to be so much easier to talk about this 0:17:41.080 --> 0:17:43.880 for the rest of this podcast. And then Google made 0:17:43.920 --> 0:17:46.400 an announcement, which led to a whole bunch of more 0:17:46.400 --> 0:17:50.600 mass happening. Well, we have more to say about ad blockers, 0:17:50.720 --> 0:17:53.840 but first, um, hey, what do you know? We have 0:17:54.000 --> 0:18:04.359 some ads. We'll be right back. Okay, so December eight, 0:18:04.440 --> 0:18:07.040 two thousand nine, and this is the first time where 0:18:07.040 --> 0:18:09.919 we can actually put a specific date on one of 0:18:09.920 --> 0:18:13.800 these things. You know, again, developers don't necessarily write down 0:18:13.880 --> 0:18:17.720 stuff for historical records, which, guys, you've got to start 0:18:17.760 --> 0:18:20.800 doing that. Yeah, seriously, everyone get on that. I know. Well, actually, 0:18:20.840 --> 0:18:22.560 I mean everyone is on that at this point because 0:18:22.640 --> 0:18:25.440 of the popularity of blogging and micro blogging. But at 0:18:25.440 --> 0:18:29.080 any rate, right, this is when Michael Gunlock developed his 0:18:29.160 --> 0:18:33.680 own ad blocker called ad block with a capital B 0:18:34.000 --> 0:18:37.200 this time. Right, that makes it totally different obviously spelled 0:18:37.200 --> 0:18:39.919 the same way as the original ad block, except that 0:18:40.000 --> 0:18:43.120 the B is capitalized. Like you said, Look, it's the Internet. 0:18:43.119 --> 0:18:45.960 Things can be case sensitive. I just think that's funny 0:18:46.000 --> 0:18:48.240 that you already have a product called ad block Plus, 0:18:48.359 --> 0:18:50.040 so clearly what you want to come out with is 0:18:50.119 --> 0:18:53.080 one called ad block. But you know, again, these are 0:18:53.160 --> 0:18:57.160 open source approaches. It's not like these these different developers 0:18:57.160 --> 0:18:59.720 are all getting into it in order to make book 0:18:59.720 --> 0:19:02.200 who's amount of money. It's stopped something that they felt 0:19:02.440 --> 0:19:06.800 was necessary to extend functionality, and it's a passion thing. Absolutely. 0:19:07.040 --> 0:19:11.200 So this is totally separate from the original ad block 0:19:11.400 --> 0:19:15.600 and also ad block Plus. And originally this was an 0:19:15.640 --> 0:19:19.360 extension for Google Chrome. And in fact, the reason why 0:19:19.359 --> 0:19:22.439 I said December eight, two thousand nine, is that's also 0:19:22.600 --> 0:19:26.879 the very first day that Google allowed extensions in Chrome, 0:19:27.240 --> 0:19:29.760 only in the beta version of Chrome. Actually at the time, 0:19:29.960 --> 0:19:32.760 it would roll out extensions for for Chrome as a 0:19:32.760 --> 0:19:35.679 as a whole a couple of months later, but you know, 0:19:35.920 --> 0:19:39.200 they made this amount announcement, and gun Launch checked to 0:19:39.240 --> 0:19:41.439 see whether there was already an ad block for Chrome, 0:19:42.040 --> 0:19:44.680 and specifically ad block plus for Chrome because he really 0:19:44.680 --> 0:19:47.440 liked that block plus it was his favorite Firefox extension. 0:19:47.720 --> 0:19:49.960 And he saw that there wasn't and started coding one 0:19:50.320 --> 0:19:53.640 like on the spot. Yep, and so uh and now 0:19:53.760 --> 0:19:57.359 these days you can actually get it from multiple uh browsers, 0:19:57.359 --> 0:20:01.359 not just Google Chrome. Also there's version for Safari and 0:20:01.560 --> 0:20:04.679 one for Opera. Ad Block Plus, by the way, also 0:20:04.720 --> 0:20:09.680 available on multiple browsers, including Chrome, Safari uh as well 0:20:09.720 --> 0:20:12.800 as Internet Explorer and of course Firefox where it got started. 0:20:13.240 --> 0:20:16.639 So now we're covering pretty much all the basis and 0:20:16.720 --> 0:20:19.000 some of these you know, you're you're limited on choice, 0:20:19.080 --> 0:20:24.920 Like if you're using Opera, Uh hello, Now, I mean, 0:20:24.960 --> 0:20:27.080 I know that the Opera fans out there are big 0:20:27.119 --> 0:20:30.920 passionate fans. They love that browser. I just I think 0:20:30.960 --> 0:20:33.320 there might be three of you. But hey, if you're 0:20:33.359 --> 0:20:34.840 one of those three, write us and tell us why 0:20:34.880 --> 0:20:36.720 Opera is the best, because I would I would love 0:20:36.760 --> 0:20:39.119 to hear it. I've I've used it a couple of 0:20:39.119 --> 0:20:42.320 times and that's all I know about it. So at 0:20:42.320 --> 0:20:47.040 any rate, uh, you had ad block going under version 0:20:47.119 --> 0:20:50.520 numbers like two point oh being the first one that's 0:20:50.560 --> 0:20:54.479 being released for actual use, so we're no longer at 0:20:54.480 --> 0:20:57.359 the zero point whatever. For ad block, it's it's on 0:20:57.440 --> 0:21:00.560 a totally different path. Again, it's not really connected to 0:21:00.600 --> 0:21:03.119 those other ones other than the fact that the end 0:21:03.160 --> 0:21:06.159 result is it blocks ads. Right, It's supposed to be 0:21:06.359 --> 0:21:09.240 based on the same concept, so it was written from 0:21:09.280 --> 0:21:13.919 an entirely separate bit of code exactly. So one of 0:21:13.920 --> 0:21:18.720 my favorite stories about the the ad block extension is 0:21:18.760 --> 0:21:23.400 what happened on April Fool's Day two thousand twelve. So 0:21:23.720 --> 0:21:28.000 this day, the developer decided to do something playful by 0:21:28.119 --> 0:21:30.040 tweaking the code a little bit, so instead of just 0:21:30.119 --> 0:21:33.120 blocking ads so that you don't see them, it replaced 0:21:33.119 --> 0:21:37.679 ads with the Internet's favorite thing, little cats. So it 0:21:37.720 --> 0:21:40.560 became cat block Day. And in fact, it got so 0:21:40.640 --> 0:21:44.000 popular that and people loved it so much that they 0:21:44.000 --> 0:21:47.400 went ahead and added cat block as an as an 0:21:47.400 --> 0:21:51.520 optional add on it. Yeah, you could subscribe and get 0:21:51.640 --> 0:21:55.719 cat block if you wanted everything to permanently well everything 0:21:55.760 --> 0:21:58.040 all the ads to permanently be switched over to cats, 0:21:58.040 --> 0:22:00.920 not not the entire and not just a cat browser, 0:22:01.040 --> 0:22:04.440 although someone's got to have done that, I'm sure, right, 0:22:04.560 --> 0:22:10.480 I'm positive anyway, Yeah, so uh interesting, yeah yeah. So. 0:22:10.720 --> 0:22:14.160 Features of good launches ad block are that it can 0:22:14.200 --> 0:22:17.199 it can block resources in Google Chrome so that the 0:22:17.320 --> 0:22:20.840 elements won't even load in the browser, right, um, and 0:22:20.920 --> 0:22:25.360 that includes uh, not just pictures but also flash elements. 0:22:25.359 --> 0:22:27.840 It can block ads and videos like if if YouTube 0:22:27.880 --> 0:22:30.399 plays an ad before a video, it can just wipe 0:22:30.440 --> 0:22:33.560 that from creation, right yea, at least as far as 0:22:33.720 --> 0:22:37.159 your concerned. Yea. Um. The current version I believe is 0:22:37.160 --> 0:22:40.080 available in more than thirty languages. Yep, yep, it's got 0:22:40.119 --> 0:22:43.600 international capabilities built right into it. Also a note of 0:22:43.640 --> 0:22:48.440 interest in good Luck launched a successful Crown funded campaign 0:22:48.600 --> 0:22:51.919 to and and follow me closely here, kids create ads 0:22:51.960 --> 0:22:54.920 for ad block so that ad block can block more ads. 0:22:55.840 --> 0:22:59.120 I'm pretty sure you're talking about bob blah blaws blaw blog. 0:23:01.440 --> 0:23:03.840 That's that's what it sounded like to me. It was. 0:23:04.480 --> 0:23:08.359 The campaign was to advertise his his service ad Block, 0:23:08.640 --> 0:23:11.679 because not that many people use it. I mean, I 0:23:11.720 --> 0:23:14.640 think that as as of the campaign, he was saying 0:23:14.680 --> 0:23:18.240 that only three and ten Internet users had any kind 0:23:18.240 --> 0:23:21.280 of ad blocking software at all. Um. And so he 0:23:21.760 --> 0:23:24.520