WEBVTT - TechStuff Classic: The Problem with Ads Part One 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:12.360 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from iHeartRadio. Hey there, 0:00:12.400 --> 0:00:15.800 and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. 0:00:15.840 --> 0:00:19.400 I'm an executive producer with iHeartRadio and how the tech 0:00:19.880 --> 0:00:23.479 are you? I almost forgot my own tagline there. I've 0:00:23.520 --> 0:00:27.560 been batch recording intros and outros for classic episodes and 0:00:27.640 --> 0:00:30.880 I'm up to number fourteen and I'm starting to get loopy. 0:00:31.480 --> 0:00:35.760 But this is a great time for me to welcome 0:00:35.760 --> 0:00:38.360 you here to listen to this classic episode that originally 0:00:38.400 --> 0:00:42.680 published on May eighteen, twenty sixteen. It is a fun 0:00:42.960 --> 0:00:46.280 two part episode, so we'll get part two next week. 0:00:46.600 --> 0:00:50.680 And Ben joined the show. Ben Bolan of Stuff They 0:00:50.680 --> 0:00:54.200 Don't Want You To Know and Ridiculous History fame, as 0:00:54.240 --> 0:00:59.480 well as a phenomenal writer on some of our narrative 0:01:00.240 --> 0:01:04.120 fictional podcast episodes. He joined the show to talk about 0:01:04.200 --> 0:01:07.520 the problem with ads. So this one is part one. 0:01:07.640 --> 0:01:11.760 Next week we'll get part two, and yeah, man, we 0:01:11.760 --> 0:01:15.280 could probably do a full mini series about the problem 0:01:15.319 --> 0:01:21.320 with ads and the balance between commerce and content or 0:01:21.480 --> 0:01:25.000 art if you will not for me to assume that 0:01:25.040 --> 0:01:28.240 tech Stuff is art, but rather how do you balance 0:01:28.840 --> 0:01:35.080 the desire to create valuable informative content or entertaining content 0:01:35.760 --> 0:01:41.160 against commerce. There have been a lot of missteps in 0:01:41.200 --> 0:01:44.640 that path, and we're going to listen to this episode 0:01:44.640 --> 0:01:47.240 and learn about some of those. So sit back and 0:01:47.319 --> 0:01:52.080 enjoy this classic episode from twenty sixteen. Have you ever 0:01:52.120 --> 0:01:58.920 seen and advertisement and thought, yes, absolutely, this is for 0:01:59.040 --> 0:02:03.880 me rarely, but it has been known to happen, I 0:02:03.920 --> 0:02:06.040 can tell you right now. I can tell you too, 0:02:06.160 --> 0:02:08.280 right off the top of my head, and it's largely 0:02:08.320 --> 0:02:14.120 because of the tone of the advertising campaign. Old spicy odorant, 0:02:15.200 --> 0:02:22.040 right right? Dollar shave Club? Okay, what about Dollar shave Club? Guy? 0:02:22.440 --> 0:02:25.000 The commercials for a dollar shave Club are kind of 0:02:25.000 --> 0:02:27.959 in that same tongue in cheek, snarky sort of approach, 0:02:29.240 --> 0:02:32.040 a little not so in your face as to be 0:02:32.160 --> 0:02:37.400 truly obnoxious, but just barely straddling that line between being 0:02:37.520 --> 0:02:42.880 charming and being arrogant. And I find it entertaining. And 0:02:42.960 --> 0:02:47.000 I thought, well, I shave quite a bit actually, because 0:02:47.120 --> 0:02:49.160 because I got the head that I have to shave 0:02:49.960 --> 0:02:53.320 because nature has deprived me of some of my hair 0:02:53.440 --> 0:02:54.960 but not all of it, so I have to get 0:02:55.040 --> 0:02:58.600 rid of the rest. And I decided to try it 0:02:58.600 --> 0:03:01.160 out because I thought the ads were really entertaining. The 0:03:01.360 --> 0:03:05.080 idea of the subscription model was much more attractive to 0:03:05.120 --> 0:03:07.360 me than having to go to the store and ask 0:03:07.560 --> 0:03:13.760 to unlock the vault of razors. Yeah, and it turned 0:03:13.800 --> 0:03:17.399 out that I loved the products. So the ad did 0:03:17.440 --> 0:03:20.280 exactly what it was supposed to do. It got my attention, 0:03:20.680 --> 0:03:25.839 it made me remember the brand, and its ultimately got 0:03:25.840 --> 0:03:28.000 me to act, which are That's exactly what ads are 0:03:28.000 --> 0:03:30.240 supposed to do. Let me tell you what ads are 0:03:30.320 --> 0:03:33.520 not supposed to do. Whatsosed to do. They're not supposed 0:03:33.560 --> 0:03:37.760 to irritate the audience to the point where they no 0:03:37.840 --> 0:03:40.440 longer ever want to buy anything ever again, and then 0:03:40.480 --> 0:03:44.600 they rage quit the Internet. So today we're going to 0:03:44.680 --> 0:03:48.400 talk about ads and ad blockers and to kind of 0:03:48.440 --> 0:03:51.800 go into the discussion that's been kind of going around 0:03:51.840 --> 0:03:54.480 recently about ad blockers, including some of the stuff that's 0:03:54.520 --> 0:03:56.920 going on in Europe, some of the stuff that you 0:03:57.000 --> 0:03:59.440 might have heard about as far as ads and their 0:03:59.480 --> 0:04:04.840 relationship to malware. What exactly is going on and where 0:04:04.880 --> 0:04:07.880 do we stand on this? And then you know, you 0:04:08.160 --> 0:04:09.760 do a lot of stuff here at how stuff works, 0:04:09.760 --> 0:04:12.520 but I specifically ask you, in your capacity as one 0:04:12.560 --> 0:04:14.240 of the hosts of stuff they don't want you to 0:04:14.320 --> 0:04:18.440 know because as the host of that show, you've covered 0:04:18.480 --> 0:04:23.960 the topics surrounding privacy pretty extensively, right, and privacy is 0:04:24.080 --> 0:04:28.800 one of the factors that comes into play when you're 0:04:28.800 --> 0:04:33.600 talking about advertising, particularly today when targeted advertising has become 0:04:34.000 --> 0:04:39.200 such a huge part of strategies. Now, to start this off, 0:04:39.240 --> 0:04:42.480 before we jump into all of that, I thought I 0:04:42.480 --> 0:04:46.320 would give kind of a really high level explanation of 0:04:46.320 --> 0:04:50.839 what is going on behind the scenes technically with ads 0:04:50.960 --> 0:04:54.840 on web pages and thus how ad blockers are able 0:04:54.880 --> 0:04:56.680 to work at all. You might think, well, how can 0:04:56.720 --> 0:05:01.000 an ad blocker recognize and block and add but not 0:05:01.279 --> 0:05:07.320 the content I'm trying to see? So, Ben Jonathan, you work, 0:05:07.560 --> 0:05:12.000 You work on the web. Yes, you you've visited a 0:05:12.000 --> 0:05:15.720 website or two. You probably know that you do so 0:05:15.960 --> 0:05:20.599 through something called a browser. Yes, yes, for you know, 0:05:20.760 --> 0:05:27.880 something like a Chrome, Firefox, Edge Edge. Yeah. And if 0:05:27.920 --> 0:05:31.320 you are using Internet Explorer, I hope it is only 0:05:31.400 --> 0:05:35.560 because some outside authority is making you do so, right, Like, 0:05:35.600 --> 0:05:38.560 there's an intranet that you can only access with Internet Explorer. 0:05:38.600 --> 0:05:41.240 Do you remember those days? I remember, Yeah, there was 0:05:41.800 --> 0:05:44.560 that was the only reason. I had Internet Explorer installed 0:05:44.600 --> 0:05:47.520 on my old computers so that I could access our 0:05:47.680 --> 0:05:51.240 company's former intrnet, which is ridiculous. But here we are 0:05:51.560 --> 0:05:55.279 nonetheless on a browser. Yeah. So when you are visiting 0:05:55.320 --> 0:05:57.960 a website using your browser, you type in the r 0:05:58.040 --> 0:06:00.120 L type of deep deep, and you put it in 0:06:00.120 --> 0:06:02.200 the address bar and you hit that inter button. What 0:06:02.360 --> 0:06:05.120 is happening is your browser is sending out a request 0:06:05.400 --> 0:06:09.400 over the Internet, and it's essentially saying, Hey, the jerk 0:06:09.720 --> 0:06:12.160 on the other end of this keyboard wants to see 0:06:12.560 --> 0:06:15.560 you know. Uh, I don't know what's a good website. 0:06:15.640 --> 0:06:19.080 Let's say Wired dot com. That's a great example, because 0:06:19.120 --> 0:06:22.080 Wired's going to come up in other parts of this discussion. Yeah, 0:06:22.320 --> 0:06:25.919 and Wired, by the way, I love Wired. They do 0:06:26.000 --> 0:06:27.520 great work, and I've got a lot of friends who 0:06:27.520 --> 0:06:29.799 have worked for Wired, either in the past or currently. 0:06:30.440 --> 0:06:32.880 Love their stuff. So you're going to Wired dot com. 0:06:32.880 --> 0:06:37.200 What happens is the uh, this request goes out over 0:06:37.720 --> 0:06:42.320 the Internet and it's routed through a series of connections 0:06:42.400 --> 0:06:46.960 until it gets to the server where Wired dot com lives, 0:06:47.240 --> 0:06:49.880 which is like the vault of their information. Yeah, it's 0:06:49.880 --> 0:06:52.800 a it's a it's an actual physical computer that has 0:06:53.640 --> 0:06:57.320 the instance of that website stored on it, and then 0:06:57.360 --> 0:07:00.440 when the request comes in, it serves the US living 0:07:00.480 --> 0:07:03.240 up to its name, the information to you, and it 0:07:03.279 --> 0:07:06.920 goes back across the Internet, not necessarily in the same 0:07:06.960 --> 0:07:09.440 pathway that your request came through. That gets into a 0:07:09.480 --> 0:07:13.560 discussion of packets that really is immaterial for this. Yeah, 0:07:13.600 --> 0:07:15.760 I've talked about packets in previous episodes. So if you 0:07:15.760 --> 0:07:17.400 really want to know what packet switching is and how 0:07:17.400 --> 0:07:20.120 all that works, go check out the archives of tech 0:07:20.160 --> 0:07:23.080 stuff and it's out there. But the information comes to you, 0:07:23.160 --> 0:07:25.720 and your browser puts it together and displays it for you, 0:07:25.800 --> 0:07:28.000 and it does so based upon the rules set up 0:07:28.000 --> 0:07:32.280 by the web master rights whoever put it together. There 0:07:32.760 --> 0:07:37.280 are there's language tags that explain how it's supposed to 0:07:37.280 --> 0:07:40.560 look when it's displayed on your browser, and that's how 0:07:40.600 --> 0:07:42.840 it works. And so you think, okay, so so it's 0:07:42.840 --> 0:07:46.720 really just a request and then a response. But then 0:07:46.760 --> 0:07:50.560 you have ads. Now, with ads, the content for the 0:07:50.640 --> 0:07:54.320 ads comes from a different place than the content for 0:07:54.400 --> 0:07:57.200 the web page itself. So those ads that are on 0:07:57.360 --> 0:08:00.960 wired dot com, they're actually coming from different servers. They're 0:08:01.000 --> 0:08:05.240 not coming from wired's server, and the web page just 0:08:05.360 --> 0:08:10.720 has a space dedicated or some form of a relationship 0:08:10.800 --> 0:08:13.160 there that's dedicated to the ad that says this is 0:08:13.160 --> 0:08:17.119 where the ad will go when it's served to the viewer, 0:08:17.280 --> 0:08:20.960 and that depends on the arrangement between the advertiser and 0:08:21.120 --> 0:08:24.880 the content creator. Yeah, so you could probably, I mean, 0:08:24.920 --> 0:08:27.240 we could really dive down into this and say, all 0:08:27.240 --> 0:08:32.280 these different types of ads have different rates. Like a 0:08:32.320 --> 0:08:35.440 banner add at this point is almost considered to be worthless, 0:08:35.559 --> 0:08:40.679 and a banner ad is a term describing those long, 0:08:40.880 --> 0:08:45.240 horizontal ads you will see that take up an entire 0:08:45.360 --> 0:08:47.640 row I guess of a website, right, Yeah, And you 0:08:47.640 --> 0:08:50.560 could say, like a rail would be the vertical version 0:08:50.559 --> 0:08:52.199 of that, either on the left or right. And then 0:08:52.200 --> 0:08:54.679 there are other things like they are pop ups, per 0:08:56.280 --> 0:08:58.840 tons of different types and they all have different rates 0:08:58.840 --> 0:09:03.360 depending upon the lots of factors. How popular is the 0:09:03.400 --> 0:09:07.240 website and how effective are those ads considered to be, 0:09:07.280 --> 0:09:09.640 Like the least effective are the ones, They're going to 0:09:09.679 --> 0:09:13.520 be the least expensive. And in some cases you will 0:09:13.559 --> 0:09:15.680 find web pages that have completely abandoned some of the 0:09:15.720 --> 0:09:19.000 cheaper ones because they don't really work anyway, And you 0:09:19.080 --> 0:09:21.760 might as well try and command a higher price. So 0:09:22.840 --> 0:09:26.720 those impressions those that data is actually coming from other 0:09:26.800 --> 0:09:30.600 servers and they're the advertisers. Servers are the more likely 0:09:30.640 --> 0:09:35.280 advertising agencies servers where that data lives. So as the 0:09:35.320 --> 0:09:39.280 page is loading up the sections for the ads, that 0:09:39.400 --> 0:09:43.319 gets another request saying hey, send me the information that's 0:09:43.320 --> 0:09:46.000 supposed to go here. It's coming from this other server 0:09:46.480 --> 0:09:49.640 that gets sent to your computer and is inserted into 0:09:49.679 --> 0:09:52.720 the appropriate section by your browser when it's constructing the 0:09:52.720 --> 0:09:56.760 whole thing. The way ad blockers work is essentially it 0:09:56.840 --> 0:10:02.400 has a filter list saying anything coming from these particular servers, 0:10:02.679 --> 0:10:06.000 don't let it show up, just don't even let it 0:10:06.000 --> 0:10:09.120 through the door, like mad ads dot com. Yeah, which 0:10:09.120 --> 0:10:13.480 I just made up right right, So so anything that 0:10:13.520 --> 0:10:16.800 would come from that server would automatically get blocked and 0:10:16.880 --> 0:10:20.679 not be incorporated into the web page as you're displaying it. 0:10:21.120 --> 0:10:23.920 So that's the general way that most ad blockers work. 0:10:23.960 --> 0:10:26.480 There's another way too. The ad blockers can also look 0:10:26.520 --> 0:10:30.800 for certain tags that are associated with advertising, like there's 0:10:30.800 --> 0:10:33.640 actually a tag for ad that kind of stuff, and 0:10:33.720 --> 0:10:36.920 just block anything that that shows up under that tag. 0:10:37.360 --> 0:10:40.280 But generally speaking, the idea is just a kind of 0:10:40.280 --> 0:10:42.920 a bouncer that says anyone from this neighborhood is not 0:10:43.000 --> 0:10:47.200 allowed into the club, and so checking your checking all 0:10:47.240 --> 0:10:49.800 the IDs and saying I'm sorry, you're from a part 0:10:49.840 --> 0:10:52.360 of the neighborhood where we don't let you in. It's 0:10:52.440 --> 0:10:55.920 so discriminatory. That's the way. That's that's how an ad 0:10:55.920 --> 0:10:59.240 blocker has to work, right, It has to discriminate, otherwise 0:10:59.320 --> 0:11:01.440 you don't get You either get everything or you get nothing. 0:11:01.760 --> 0:11:05.640 So it has and we should do a disclaimer, yeah, 0:11:05.679 --> 0:11:08.160 which is what Oh, okay, I'll do it. Yeah. So 0:11:09.280 --> 0:11:12.520 we are fully aware, ladies and gentlemen, that we do 0:11:12.640 --> 0:11:16.720 work for an internet company how stuff works. It's our 0:11:16.760 --> 0:11:20.680 parent company for our range of podcasts, and it is 0:11:20.720 --> 0:11:23.960 AD supported, and it is AD supported, and quite a 0:11:24.000 --> 0:11:29.199 few things online are AD supported. Yes. However, I will 0:11:29.280 --> 0:11:34.560 confess to my hypocrisy because I am an enormous fan 0:11:34.880 --> 0:11:41.719 of certain ad blockers. Yeah, and I completely understand why 0:11:42.160 --> 0:11:47.560 another person would use an ad blocker, especially given as 0:11:47.600 --> 0:11:52.160 you mentioned, the privacy concerns that we'll get to. Yeah. 0:11:52.200 --> 0:11:56.280 So there's a whole lot of stuff going on for 0:11:56.360 --> 0:11:59.520 reasons why people would consider using an ad blocker, and 0:11:59.640 --> 0:12:01.960 to your point, be not to leave you hanging out there. 0:12:02.000 --> 0:12:05.720 I use ad blockers too sometimes sometimes I will set 0:12:06.800 --> 0:12:12.360 exemptions for websites that I think are handling advertising in 0:12:12.360 --> 0:12:17.800 a responsible way, in a non invasive, non potentially harmful 0:12:17.880 --> 0:12:20.040 kind of way. So you can you can with most 0:12:20.080 --> 0:12:23.640 ad blockers set filters and say anything on this page, 0:12:23.720 --> 0:12:25.840 go ahead and show me the ad. It's fine. Can 0:12:25.880 --> 0:12:29.840 white list stuff exactly sowire dot com. There's an example 0:12:30.480 --> 0:12:33.000 that's on my white list. A couple of others too. 0:12:33.040 --> 0:12:35.200 There's some that want to be on my white list 0:12:35.240 --> 0:12:38.840 that I have not put on there. Cough Forbes cough. 0:12:40.640 --> 0:12:42.920 But we'll get into that too. So there are a 0:12:42.920 --> 0:12:45.200 lot of different reasons, and some of them you could 0:12:45.280 --> 0:12:48.280 argue are more valid than others for people to want 0:12:48.320 --> 0:12:50.000 to use ad blockers. So I'm going to run through 0:12:50.040 --> 0:12:52.200 a few of those. And also I could say that 0:12:52.920 --> 0:12:56.280 there's other things you can do, like through your browser 0:12:56.360 --> 0:13:01.240 itself that don't necessarily block ads, but block elements of 0:13:01.360 --> 0:13:07.280 ads that you might find particularly irritatingly. Yeah. Yeah, Like 0:13:07.320 --> 0:13:11.680 you can disable video or audio or flash animation, or 0:13:11.720 --> 0:13:14.640 you can not even have flash installed, So that also 0:13:14.720 --> 0:13:19.240 helps yeah, I don't know. Is Yeah, there's a lot 0:13:19.280 --> 0:13:21.880 of content out there that is dependent upon flash and 0:13:21.920 --> 0:13:25.040 without it. Without flash, it makes it harder. Another some 0:13:25.080 --> 0:13:29.559 things have definitely helped by moving to HTML five. So 0:13:30.320 --> 0:13:32.920 at any rate, let's talk about some of the reasons 0:13:32.920 --> 0:13:36.240 folks block ads. Uh, some of them, like we said, 0:13:36.240 --> 0:13:40.960 are just obnoxious. They're intrusive. They ruin the experience you're 0:13:40.960 --> 0:13:43.679 trying to have. If you are trying to read an 0:13:43.760 --> 0:13:48.680 article and as you scroll down, a window slides into view, 0:13:48.880 --> 0:13:51.360 covering up the text you're trying to read and is 0:13:51.440 --> 0:13:54.480 auto playing some commercial that has no bearing on your 0:13:54.520 --> 0:13:58.960 life whatsoever, that's a bad experience. Right Like if if 0:13:59.000 --> 0:14:03.840 I were going on a page about a technical gadget 0:14:03.880 --> 0:14:07.240 and I'm reading and as I scrolled down, an ad 0:14:07.240 --> 0:14:10.720 for diapers comes on, I'm going to be irritated. I 0:14:10.720 --> 0:14:14.280 don't have a baby, I don't need diapers myself. Yet 0:14:14.480 --> 0:14:17.839 you're not reading about something related to diapers. No, I'm 0:14:17.880 --> 0:14:21.520 not reading about the latest and diaper tracking software, you know, 0:14:21.760 --> 0:14:24.560 getting that notification on your app that's time to change 0:14:24.600 --> 0:14:27.160 the diaper. I'm not reading any of that. That would 0:14:27.160 --> 0:14:31.000 be a very bad experience. It could be I poop. 0:14:31.600 --> 0:14:33.960 I mean I do. That's I don't want to get 0:14:34.000 --> 0:14:39.640 into it. That's probably one that we will not pitch 0:14:41.360 --> 0:14:45.120 on that show. Yeah, so that's one reason. Just just 0:14:45.200 --> 0:14:48.960 because it's an it can be an unpleasant experience. Depending 0:14:49.000 --> 0:14:51.880 upon the way the ad is presented, it's disruptive, it is, 0:14:51.960 --> 0:14:55.760 it is disruptive. Another is that it slows downloading time, 0:14:56.120 --> 0:15:00.280 right because there is this additional uh communication that has 0:15:00.320 --> 0:15:02.480 to happen to pull that information in while the page 0:15:02.560 --> 0:15:05.600 is loading. And we all know that we have very 0:15:05.640 --> 0:15:08.280 little patients to wait around when loading website. If you've 0:15:08.280 --> 0:15:10.520 ever had one of those days that here at work 0:15:10.800 --> 0:15:14.760 where occasionally our network gets a little sludgy, oh pandemonium. 0:15:14.800 --> 0:15:16.840 Oh yeah, you're like, you're like typing in even if 0:15:16.840 --> 0:15:18.200 you're just typing in something like I just need to 0:15:18.240 --> 0:15:20.880 Google something and you're typing in your Google search and 0:15:20.920 --> 0:15:23.520 you hit in her and it's not that point three 0:15:23.720 --> 0:15:26.640 second response and it takes like a couple of seconds. 0:15:26.680 --> 0:15:30.120 You go nuts, You're like, what is happening? Bandemonium? We're 0:15:30.200 --> 0:15:33.480 one slow internet connection from away from a series of 0:15:33.560 --> 0:15:36.000 knife fights. Yeah no, I mean we have the knives 0:15:36.200 --> 0:15:40.560 here in the office, right, I personally plan on hiding 0:15:40.600 --> 0:15:44.840 because there's some crazy people in this Oh yeah, yeah, Scott, 0:15:44.880 --> 0:15:47.400 Benjamin's got some moves. He's got to reach to man's 0:15:47.400 --> 0:15:50.880 got he's got that armspan. So ads also can take 0:15:50.960 --> 0:15:54.120 up a lot of bandwidth, right, that's another huge problem 0:15:54.160 --> 0:15:58.680 because a lot of I sps are using bandwidth caps, 0:15:58.800 --> 0:16:01.760 especially in the mobile world. Old Ben Boland and I 0:16:01.800 --> 0:16:03.600 will be back in just a moment to talk a 0:16:03.640 --> 0:16:06.760 little bit more about the problem with ads after this 0:16:06.880 --> 0:16:20.960 quick break. So, both in mobile and my home ISSP 0:16:21.240 --> 0:16:24.080 technically have a data cap. Now I have paid extra 0:16:24.320 --> 0:16:26.960 to get out of the cap on both sides, but 0:16:27.040 --> 0:16:29.080 that's because I make enough money where I can pay 0:16:29.120 --> 0:16:32.160 a little extra to do that. That should not be 0:16:32.480 --> 0:16:35.760 something I don't think that should be encouraged. I think 0:16:35.800 --> 0:16:40.240 that there's no real good reason for data caps, particularly 0:16:40.320 --> 0:16:46.280 for home networks. But if you have ads activated, that's 0:16:46.360 --> 0:16:48.600 more data that's coming through. That means that not only 0:16:48.600 --> 0:16:51.040 do you not want to see these things, but it's 0:16:51.080 --> 0:16:54.680 taking away your opportunity to see other stuff exactly. Also, also, 0:16:54.880 --> 0:16:58.200 are have you done a data caps episode, Jonathan? I 0:16:58.240 --> 0:17:00.840 haven't because I probably would be frothing at the mouth 0:17:01.160 --> 0:17:04.400 end of it so angry about that the emperor has 0:17:04.440 --> 0:17:08.480 no clothes. Yeah, let's just say that. Uh, I think 0:17:08.560 --> 0:17:13.679 some companies can be a little bombastic, which rhymes a 0:17:13.720 --> 0:17:16.800 lot with a certain isp that I'm not happy about, right, Right, 0:17:16.840 --> 0:17:19.439 But as you're saying that's that's an excellent point because 0:17:19.880 --> 0:17:22.680 you know, let's say you see this ad for diapers 0:17:22.920 --> 0:17:26.200 and it's a video, right, it's an AutoPlay video while 0:17:26.240 --> 0:17:30.280 you're reading about your latest gadget that you're doing research on, right, 0:17:30.520 --> 0:17:35.000 and then the chances of this happening are very small. 0:17:35.040 --> 0:17:39.080 But what if it's the proverbial feather on your internet's 0:17:39.520 --> 0:17:42.040 camel back, you know what I mean, Like, right, that's 0:17:42.080 --> 0:17:45.000 the thing that happens, and then the camel just collapses 0:17:45.080 --> 0:17:47.440 and you get the pop up warning. Well, then that's 0:17:47.680 --> 0:17:52.080 exceed your data. And if it's a video based advertisement, 0:17:52.119 --> 0:17:53.679 that kind of stuff, I mean, that takes up a 0:17:53.840 --> 0:17:57.480 more data and and I mean you think about how 0:17:57.560 --> 0:18:01.520 much browsing you do in a typical month. If you 0:18:01.600 --> 0:18:05.600 are already bumping up against that data cap toward the 0:18:05.680 --> 0:18:08.000 end of the month, like in that last week, ads 0:18:08.119 --> 0:18:11.679 could be accumulatively across the rest of the month be 0:18:11.840 --> 0:18:14.480 enough to make that happen in the middle of the month, 0:18:14.640 --> 0:18:21.560 a problem magnified or exacerbated for mobile users exactly. So 0:18:22.119 --> 0:18:24.960 that's a reason some people use ad blockers. They say, listen, 0:18:25.320 --> 0:18:27.560 I have a limited amount of data I am allowed 0:18:27.600 --> 0:18:31.359 to access, and I'm bumping up against it, and I 0:18:31.400 --> 0:18:34.400 don't have other options, I mean, other than just stopping. 0:18:35.720 --> 0:18:42.640 But that's crazy talk, is what that is. And also, finally, well, 0:18:42.800 --> 0:18:45.800 two other things. One is that targeted advertising some people 0:18:45.840 --> 0:18:49.360 find it very off putting. Right the idea that let's 0:18:49.400 --> 0:18:52.879 say that's it's not an ad for diapers that's completely 0:18:52.960 --> 0:18:55.560 irrelevant to my life. Let's say it's an AD that's 0:18:55.880 --> 0:19:00.159 very relevant. Maybe it's I don't know, head wax so 0:19:00.200 --> 0:19:02.120 that I can get my head up to a nice 0:19:02.200 --> 0:19:08.280 glossy finish. Or maybe it's Hamilton. May have a conversation 0:19:08.320 --> 0:19:11.000 about Hamilton. It could be that, Yeah, Hamilton is coming 0:19:11.000 --> 0:19:15.960 to Atlanta, the musical Hamilton's coming to Atlanta. Buy your tickets. 0:19:16.800 --> 0:19:21.320 That's an AD that would be precisely targeted to me, 0:19:21.520 --> 0:19:24.240 and I would freak out. I'd say yes, yes, yes, 0:19:24.280 --> 0:19:25.600 And that would be an AD that would work on 0:19:25.640 --> 0:19:29.399 me because I would love to see that show. If 0:19:29.440 --> 0:19:32.760 you have Hamilton tickets, I will happily take them, all right. 0:19:32.800 --> 0:19:36.480 So that's a great example, But there are other targeted 0:19:36.520 --> 0:19:40.040 ads that can be a little scary, right, especially for 0:19:40.160 --> 0:19:44.600 people who are trying to research something that's really sensitive. 0:19:45.040 --> 0:19:47.880 The example that we have given many times on this 0:19:47.880 --> 0:19:52.720 show is the one about Target, where a young woman 0:19:52.800 --> 0:19:56.960 had been browsing Target ended up sending information to the 0:19:57.040 --> 0:20:01.960 young lady about coupons related to being pregnant. Her father 0:20:03.240 --> 0:20:07.560 intercepted essentially the coupons and got very mad at Target, saying, 0:20:07.600 --> 0:20:11.000 how dare you insinuate that my daughter is pregnant, and 0:20:11.040 --> 0:20:13.840 then later contacted Target again and said, I would like 0:20:13.880 --> 0:20:16.320 to apologize to you. I had a conversation with my 0:20:16.400 --> 0:20:19.560 daughter and it turns out that I didn't know about it, 0:20:19.600 --> 0:20:22.720 but it turns out my daughter is pregnant. But that 0:20:22.840 --> 0:20:28.000 was one of those instances where you know your online 0:20:28.000 --> 0:20:33.000 activity might indicate something you're not comfortable sharing with the 0:20:33.040 --> 0:20:36.280 world at large, and even if your personal identity is 0:20:36.320 --> 0:20:41.000 not part of that, that almost doesn't matter, right, Like 0:20:41.560 --> 0:20:45.480 your name is the least important thing about your personal data. 0:20:45.640 --> 0:20:48.159 What it is you want and need that's way more 0:20:48.200 --> 0:20:53.680 important to advertisers right, and your habits, your frequency of wanting, needing, 0:20:53.800 --> 0:20:58.160 and acquiring those things. And sometimes that's helpful, like if 0:20:58.200 --> 0:21:03.720 you go onto a shopping site like Amazon and it 0:21:03.840 --> 0:21:06.280 starts giving you suggestions based upon things you bought in 0:21:06.320 --> 0:21:07.919 the past, and you might see something it's like, oh, 0:21:07.960 --> 0:21:09.600 you know what, I do need that or I didn't 0:21:09.600 --> 0:21:11.680 even know that existed and now I want it right, 0:21:11.760 --> 0:21:17.280 Like based on your preferences for the following science fiction stories, 0:21:17.440 --> 0:21:20.720 we think these are novels that you will find of interest. 0:21:20.880 --> 0:21:23.880 Right Hamilton in Space that would be right up there. 0:21:25.160 --> 0:21:28.680 But there are other cases where targeted advertising you might 0:21:28.760 --> 0:21:31.800 feel that that's too much of a threat to your privacy. 0:21:31.920 --> 0:21:34.960 And I mean, I can't I can't fault anyone for 0:21:35.040 --> 0:21:37.000 feeling that way. And you might say, look, I don't 0:21:37.119 --> 0:21:40.320 I don't allow cookies. I don't allow any of that 0:21:40.400 --> 0:21:45.000 stuff to kind of trace my my online behaviors because 0:21:45.520 --> 0:21:48.560 I want it to be just me. Whatever I need 0:21:48.600 --> 0:21:51.600 to research or access, that's it. And that would be 0:21:51.640 --> 0:21:53.880 a reason to install ad blockers so that you don't 0:21:53.920 --> 0:21:57.480 have that following you around. And then finally, ads can 0:21:57.560 --> 0:22:00.960 sometimes be a vector from malware. We'll talk about that 0:22:01.160 --> 0:22:06.199 specifically in just a little bit. So that's to me, like, 0:22:06.200 --> 0:22:07.840 those are the reasons a lot of people give for 0:22:08.000 --> 0:22:11.680 why they install ad blockers, and I think, you know, again, 0:22:11.760 --> 0:22:16.240 to varying degrees, they're valid. And there's some interesting arguments 0:22:16.359 --> 0:22:24.200 about why ad blockers shouldn't be condemned or outlawed, why 0:22:23.320 --> 0:22:27.760 they they serve a purpose and content providers should not 0:22:28.000 --> 0:22:30.320 make a big deal out of this. Now, the reason 0:22:30.440 --> 0:22:32.320 we bring this up is that more and more content 0:22:32.400 --> 0:22:36.200 providers are using means to detect when an ad blockers 0:22:36.200 --> 0:22:40.760 in place, right, and you'll get a notification that says, 0:22:41.320 --> 0:22:45.560 we see that you're using an ad blocking service, right, 0:22:45.760 --> 0:22:53.879 And this notification from the website has a range of responses, 0:22:53.920 --> 0:22:58.159 so you may see something that says we see you're 0:22:58.280 --> 0:23:00.680 using an app blocker. We get it. That's are annoying, 0:23:01.040 --> 0:23:03.840 but this is our business, right, this is how we 0:23:03.880 --> 0:23:09.680 make money. To the furthest extreme, which which I think 0:23:09.680 --> 0:23:13.199 we already alluded to Forbes, Yeah, where the website is 0:23:13.200 --> 0:23:17.440 crippled or restricted right unless you turn off an app 0:23:17.440 --> 0:23:20.159 block And I get it again, we work for a 0:23:20.160 --> 0:23:25.600 company that makes money through advertising, and I get the 0:23:25.640 --> 0:23:28.720 need to say, look, I got to protect my business. 0:23:28.880 --> 0:23:32.960 I can't just let people quote unquote steal stuff, right, 0:23:33.000 --> 0:23:35.840 I can't let people walk in take things, and there's 0:23:35.960 --> 0:23:38.480 no means for me to generate revenue because then I 0:23:38.520 --> 0:23:40.679 can't pay the people who work for me. If I 0:23:40.680 --> 0:23:42.199 can't pay the people who work for me, I go 0:23:42.240 --> 0:23:45.440 out of business. And then you don't have the content 0:23:45.480 --> 0:23:47.520 in the first place. That is a valid argument, right, 0:23:47.640 --> 0:23:50.280 that's valid to say. Look, I have to be able 0:23:50.280 --> 0:23:53.399 to generate revenue in order to do the thing you want. 0:23:53.840 --> 0:23:59.160 You came to me buster, you put in my address 0:23:59.200 --> 0:24:01.720 in your little URL bar, or you did a search 0:24:01.800 --> 0:24:04.960 and follow the link. So I have something you want, 0:24:05.320 --> 0:24:09.040 but you want it for free, and I can't perpetually 0:24:09.080 --> 0:24:13.320 give it away for free because then I can't pay 0:24:13.320 --> 0:24:16.479 the rent, I can't buy food. We have to have 0:24:16.560 --> 0:24:19.520 this exchange for this to work. I get that. But 0:24:19.640 --> 0:24:23.439 some people say, listen, condemning the ad blockers is the 0:24:23.480 --> 0:24:26.600 wrong way to go, And here is the reasoning. It 0:24:26.680 --> 0:24:30.040 sounds a lot like the same reasons people say piracy 0:24:30.600 --> 0:24:35.680 doesn't ultimately matter that much online. Yeah, okay, I'm scooting 0:24:35.720 --> 0:24:37.399 to the edge of my Yeah. So here's the argument. 0:24:37.440 --> 0:24:40.560 The argument is that the people who install ad blockers 0:24:41.400 --> 0:24:44.760 are the people who would otherwise be ignoring your ads anyway, 0:24:44.840 --> 0:24:48.040