Confuse Google Ads With This Browser Extension
In an online world where countless systems are trying to figure out exactly what you like in order to show you ads about it, their profiling engines are really confusing when they think you like everything . And to help you with this approach, I recommend checking out the Chrome / Firefox extension AdNauseum . However, you won’t find it in the Chrome Web Store as Google frowns on extensions that stop Google from showing you ads for a completely inexplicable reason . You will have to install it manually , but it will be worth it.
It’s no secret that the Internet is full of companies looking to figure out everything you do, everything you like, and what you like more than other things you like, so that you can be shown ads that remind you of shopping and do those favorite things. … This is how the online world works – the price we pay for free access to content .
You can try to combat data collection in a variety of fun ways, including manually blocking or clearing the data that companies have about you and preventing you from being tracked as much as possible with a variety of ad blockers , anti-tracking extensions, and privacy-focused browsers. but given the number of systems tracking you, these methods can only be so effective.
AdNauseum works in a different way. As Lee McGuigan writes in the MIT Technology Review :
“AdNauseam is similar to regular ad blocking software, but with an extra layer. Instead of just removing ads when a user views a website, they automatically click on them as well. By giving the impression that the user is interested in everything, AdNauseam makes it difficult for observers to profile that person. It’s like jamming a radar by bombarding it with false signals. And it is regulated. Users can trust privacy-respecting advertisers while getting in the way of others. They can also choose whether to automatically click on all ads on a specific website or just a certain percentage of them. “
McGuigan goes on to describe various experiments he worked on with AdNauseum founder Helen Nissenbaum, allegedly proving that an extension could pass various Google checks for fraudulent or otherwise illegal ad clicks. Google, as you’d expect, denies that experiments actually prove anything, and claims that the “vast majority” of such clicks are discovered and ignored.
Honestly, I would try the extension. In the worst case, it does nothing. At best, you will find that the various advertisements you see on the Internet are not really related to what interests you – at least not as much as before, when you swore that “Facebook is listening.” because you saw an ad in your feed of something you talked about with a friend the day before.
Once you have installed AdNauseum, you will be presented with three simple options:
Feel free to include all three, but heed the AdNauseum warning: you probably don’t want to use the extension along with another ad blocker as they will conflict and you probably won’t see any additional benefits.
As with most ad blockers, there are tons of options you can play with if you delve deeper into AdNauseum’s settings. For example, you can customize your filter lists and add or remove whatever you want in case you run into problems with ad units (or need to block more):
You can also configure how often AdNauseum “clicks” on the ads you show in its general settings menu:
I’ll admit, I was unable to get AdNauseum to produce effective results on my Firefox installation – nothing was “clicked” in my repository, but the ad blocking extension’s ad blocking capabilities worked just fine. However, I have a rather unique ad blocking setup at home that might explain my problems.
AdNauseum may not be the B-everything, the end of all Internet ad-disruption solutions, but it’s an incredibly useful AdBlocker-fork of the ever-popular uBlock Origin — so it doesn’t hurt to let it spin. If you like it, great. If you don’t, there are plenty of other tools you can try to combat online ads – or at least prevent yourself from seeing them, even if you still profile thousands of sites and services every time you load the web. -page.
And note that AdNauseum is still (in theory) generating revenue for the sites tracking you. This in itself may induce you to adopt a nuclear approach instead of a noise obfuscation approach. Your call.