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Google Chrome to block "bad" ads in February

GeneralEdward Kiledjian

The Sultan of Search, Google, announced in June that it would introduce ad blocking tech in an upcoming version of the Google Chrome browser (and Chromebook). 

We can now confirm that this feature will make it into our browser on February 15 (2018). Chrome 64 will be delivered on January 23 and Chrome 65 on March 6. Either this feature will be part of Chrome 64 and turned on with a remote trigger, or it will be a server-side function. We will have to wait and see how Google implements this feature. 

Google will deliver this functionality simultaneously to desktop and mobile clients.

Why would an advertising company block ads?

To be clear, the blocked will only prevent ads that don't meet the standards set by the Coalition for Better Ads. 

  • What kinds of ads will get blocked? 
  • Ads that pop-up when you open a website
  • Ads that fill the entire screen
  • Ads that automatically play a video
  • Ads that trick you into clicking on them by pretending to be a close button
  • and many more

A single violation won't move a site into the blocked list. There are thresholds Google will be looking for and a site can come off the "bad" list if it removes the offending ads.

Google probably realized that these ads are forcing users to install aggressive ad blocking add-ons which are having an impact on its revenue. 
 

Link: Google blog post

Google bypasses Internet Explorer's privacy settings

technologyEdward Kiledjian

Last week, researchers found that Google (and other online advertising services) had found a way to bypass Safari’s privacy settings. At the time, Google said it was using know functionality to delivery services to signed in Google users.

Another week, another claim, this time by Microsoft. Microsoft claims that Google is using the same technique to bypass the privacy settings of its Internet Explorer browser. The Microsoft claim is that Google misrepresents its cookies allowing them to bypass Internet Explorer’s security settings.  As I write this, I do not believe Google has issued a statement yet.

I say they are testing their “Don’t be evil” mantra. What do you think?

Read Microsoft's post here 

 

Ghostery warns you about all the networks tracking your web habits

technologyEdward Kiledjian

Anytime you talk a walk down the information superhighway, creepy companies track your every move so that they can offer more targeted behavior based advertisements. To pull this off, they need to track you as you move across the web. If you have ever wanted to know how many of those systems are tracking you, check out a free Firefox / Chrome add-on called Ghostery.

Whey say “Ghostery tracks the trackers” and that is a great way to describe it.

DETECTION

When you stumble upon a site with these trackers, your Ghostery icon will show a badge listing how many trackers are on your current page:

INFORMATION

When you click on the icon, it provides a detailed list of all the trackers it has detected:

This is where the educational part of Ghostery starts. You can click more information on any of the trackers and it provides a bunch of useful and interesting information:

 BLOCKING

 The blocking option is still in beta for Chrome but still worth a look. You can enable it by :

 

  • Click on the Ghostery icon : 
  • Then click on the Settings icon :
  • Enable the beta bug blocking feature:

 

 

  • When you visit a site with trackers and click on the Ghostery icon, you have a new option at the bottom of the screen "Edit Blocking Options":  
  • Now you can check the trackers you want to permanently desable and voilà 

 

 As soon as I installed it, I browsed some of my more visited properties and was absolutely surprised at how many trackers they contained. Even if you decide not to block them, knowing who is tracking you is interesting information. My recommendation is download and enjoy