adblock is a boycott: the failure of big data to see it coming. version 2.0. big data + ux meetup

adblock IS A boycOTT

David Carroll MFA @profcarroll Associate Professor of Media Design

An epic failure of Big Data and UX

and other perils of Surveillance Capitalism

April 7, 2016

version 2.0

Fair use rights reserved.

Big Data + UX Meetup at Pivotal Labs

200,000,000 people block the ads.

THE Biggest boycott in human history.

— Doc searls

David Carroll (@profcarroll) Adblock is a boycott.

if marketers had been measuring the market, they would have seen this coming.

— Doc searls


» What is it? » How did it happen? » Why did it happen? » What is happening now? » What happens next? » What can we do about it?

TALK AgendaIs the adtech industrial complex a subprime market on the verge of collapse?


📈💸📉

Big Data + UX Meetup at Pivotal Labs

6Idiocracy (2006) Directed by Mike Judge

7Minority Report (2002) Directed by Steven Spielberg

Mad Men, Season 7 (2014) Created by Matthew Weiner


creepy ads

👣


lost trust

💔

13https://theconversation.com/think-youre-reading-the-news-for-free-new-research-shows-youre-likely-paying-with-your-privacy-49694

https://theconversation.com/think-youre-reading-the-news-for-free-new-research-shows-youre-likely-paying-with-your-privacy-49694


wild west

🐂

© LUMA Partners LLC 2015

Performance

Video / Rich Media

Targeted Networks / AMPs

Horizontal

Vertical / Custom

Mobile

Exchanges DSPs

Publisher Tools

Data Suppliers

Ad Servers

DMPs and Data Aggregators

Measurement and Analytics

Creative Optimization

Agency Trading Desks

Ad Networks

Media Planning and Attribution

Verification / Privacy

Ad Servers

Retargeting

Media Mgmt Systems and Operations

Sharing Data / Social Tools

SSPs

DISPLAY LUMAscape

MARKETER

PUBLISHER

CONSUMER

i

Tag Mgmt

Agencies

Denotes acquired company Denotes shuttered company

Source: Lunascape by LUMA Partners

16

© LUMA Partners LLC 2015

Performance

Video / Rich Media

Targeted Networks / AMPs

Horizontal

Vertical / Custom

Mobile

Exchanges DSPs

Publisher Tools

Data Suppliers

Ad Servers

DMPs and Data Aggregators

Measurement and Analytics

Creative Optimization

Agency Trading Desks

Ad Networks

Media Planning and Attribution

Verification / Privacy

Ad Servers

Retargeting

Media Mgmt Systems and Operations

Sharing Data / Social Tools

SSPs

DISPLAY LUMAscape

MARKETER

PUBLISHER

CONSUMER

i

Tag Mgmt

Agencies

Denotes acquired company Denotes shuttered company

Source: Lunascape by LUMA Partners

18


WTF?


MY CREDIT SCORE?


dirty little secrets

🔎

“it’s one of the dodgiest companies around they have the biggest data of all, and make it available in anyway you like as long as you pay” — anonymous adtech insider


dirty little secrets

🔎

DCN | WHITE OPS BOT BENCHMARK REPORT 201515

The Online Advertising Ecosystem12 34

Anonymizing network or proxy

Service-orientedmedia companies that

do campaign managementand audience extension

Both premium and long-tail sites and networksMeasured impressions

Network and Exchanges

Buyer of MediaPlacements

ADVERTISER OR AGENCY

SOURCES OF BOTS

Bot Script

PHANTOM LAYERPhantom Websites

Sold as clicks, views, video plays,

or social media likes

Botnet

Large PPCNetwork

ImpressionHandlers(platformsand exchanges)

AnonymizingSearch EngineTraffic

AudienceExtension orOther Supplier Network

Secondary Phantom Site

Ad

AdAd

Ad

Broker of TrafficBROKER

Buyer and Reseller ofTraffic and Clicks

PUBLISHERSeller of Traffic

Provides whatthe broker requests,

often clicks

SUPPLIER

Phantom Layer

Traffic Mixes with

Legitimate Traffic

Publisher

Publisher

Networks

Exchanges

Verification Service Work to Keep Fraud Out of the System5

7KH�RQOLQH�DGYHUWLVLQJ�HFRV\VWHP�KDV�D�VLJQL¿FDQW�QXPEHU�RI�OD\HUV�DQG�SDUWLFLSDQWV�WKDW�DLP�WR�GHOLYHU�DSSURSULDWH�DGYHUWLVLQJ�WR�RQOLQH�YLVLWRUV��0DQ\�RI�WKHVH�JURXSV��VXFK�DV�WUDI¿F�EURNHUV�DQG�advertising networks, deliver legitimate business services. Yet, the complexity of the advertising ecosystem also allows bad actors to hide their activities and allows automated software (bots)to game the system.

6RPH�OLQNV�LQ�WKH�GLJLWDO�DGYHUWLVLQJ�VXSSO\�FKDLQ�DUH�XQDZDUH�RI�WKH�ERWV�LQ�WKHLU�WUDI¿F�DQG�GR�QRW�LQWHQG�WR�SUR¿W�LOOLFLWO\��ZKLOH�RWKHUV�DFWLYHO\�HQFRXUDJH�DQG�FRQFHQWUDWH�ERW�WUDI¿F�WR�LQFUHDVH�SUR¿WV�

Stakeholders in the advertising ecosystem:

• Companies buy advertising campaigns when their marketing teams work together with an advertising agency’s media buying team.

• Advertising networks sell franchised advertising space on different publishers’ web sites.

• Publisher’s advertising operations team and sales groups work to create and sell space, impressions and other marketable units.

• 7KLUG�SDUW\�WUDI¿F�EURNHUV�VHOO�DXGLHQFH�DQG�FOLFNV�WR�SXEOLVKHUV�DQG�RWKHU�JURXSV�LQ�WKH�advertising ecosystem.

• 7KLUG�SDUW\�DGYHUWLVLQJ�YHUL¿FDWLRQ�VHUYLFHV�WUDFN�DFWXDO�DG�FOLFNV�DQG�YLHZV�DQG�ZRUN�WR�NHHS�fraud out of the ecosystem, or at least measurable.

Increasingly sophisticated bot operators attempt to fool all stakeholders in the digital advertising supply chain:

• %RWV�DUH�FRQWLQXLQJ�WR�JHW�EHWWHU�DW�PDVTXHUDGLQJ�WKHLU�VRIWZDUH�DV�YDOLG�LPSUHVVLRQ�WUDI¿F�• The ability of bots to automate clicks, impressions, and viewability means that they can scale

millions of bot impressions every day.• %\�SRVLQJ�DV�OHJLWLPDWH�WUDI¿F��ERWV�FDQ�VQHDN�WKURXJK�WKH�GLIIHUHQW�OD\HUV�RI�WKH�DGYHUWLVLQJ�

ecosystem. • An illegitimate layer of the ecosystem (the so-called phantom layer) launders clicks and

obfuscates the bot networks that operate behind it.

1

2

3

4

5

https://digitalcontentnext.org/blog/2015/09/28/2015-dcn-bot-benchmark-report-what-makes-a-publisher-premium/David Carroll (@profcarroll) Adblock is a boycott.

fraud BOTS

🤖

Source: comScore and Sourcepoint

) * + , - . /

⛔ Ad Blocking ADOPTION RATES BY COUNTRY

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%30%

28%

16%16%16%

13%12%


20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Age 18-24 Age 25-34 Age 35-44 Age 45-54 Age 55-64 Age 65+

8%9%9%9%13%

20%

7%8%8%8%11%16%

US UK) *

⛔ Ad Blocking ADOPTION RATES BY AGE

👨👩 👴👱 👩 👵




1.5%

3%

4.5%

6%

7.5%

9%

US UK NL ES CA DE FR CN IN+ , - . /) * 6 7

⛔📲 Mobile Ad Blocking ADOPTION RATES BY Country


Popovers

Non-skippable mid roll

Display ads with audio

Non-skippable pre-roll

Interstitials

Animated display ads

Skippable mid roll

Skippable pre roll

Test display ads

Still image ads

22.5% 45% 67.5% 90%

33%

33%

39%

55%

61%

71%

73%

78%

81%

83%

Source: PageFair

% of Respondents who are “completely Unwilling” to view various types of ads

⛔🚫

👍

👎

🖕


Not annoying

Respects my privacy

Loads faster

Relevant ad content

Nothing, I will always block ads

20% 40% 60% 80%

21%

42%

53%

57%

71%

Source: AdBlock Plus

Which requirements would be sufficient to allow ads?⛔⚙

🚫

🎯

⚡

👁

🕶


Source: Pew Research Center

20%

40%

60%

80%

Cleared cookies Deleted/edit post Disable browser cookies

32%

17%

42%

37%

24%

56%

41%39%

70%

49%

71%74%

18-29 30-49 50-64 65+

% of adult internet users who have done the following as a result of privacy concerns

🚫❌📛🍪 📝

⛔👁

🍪

👦👧 👨👩 👴👵👱 👩👵👦 👨👱


Zang J, Dummit K, Graves J, Lisker P, Sweeney L. Who Knows What About Me? A Survey of Behind the Scenes Personal Data Sharing to Third Parties by Mobile Apps. Technology Science. 2015103001. October 30, 2015. http://techscience.org/a/2015103001

1

Who Knows What About Me? A Survey of Behind the Scenes Personal Data Sharing to Third Parties by Mobile Apps Jinyan Zang, Krysta Dummit, James Graves, Paul Lisker, and Latanya Sweeney

Highlights

• We tested 110 popular, free Android and iOS apps to look for apps that shared personal, behavioral, and location data with third parties

• 73% of Android apps shared personal information such as email address with third parties, and 47% of iOS apps shared geo-coordinates and other location data with third parties

• 93% of Android apps tested connected to a mysterious domain, safemovedm.com, likely due to a background process of the Android phone

• We show that a significant proportion of apps share data from user inputs such as personal information or search terms with third parties without Android or iOS requiring a notification to the user

Zang J, Dummit K, Graves J, Lisker P, Sweeney L. Who Knows What About Me? A Survey of Behind the Scenes Personal Data Sharing to Third Parties by Mobile Apps. Technology Science. 2015103001. October 30, 2015. http://techscience.org/a/2015103001

2

Sharing of sensitive data by Android apps (left) to domains (right)

http://techscience.org/a/2015103001/David Carroll (@profcarroll) Adblock is a boycott.

leaky apps

💧

http://recode.net/2015/10/07/mossberg-the-real-trouble-with-web-ads/ http://adage.com/article/datadriven-marketing/behavioral-advertising-crucial/291858/

http://digiday.com/publishers/publishers-data-trackers/

https://twitter.com/jason_kint/status/571399641469730817

http://www.theawl.com/2015/09/welcome-to-the-block-party

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/10/01/business/cost-of-mobile-ads.html http://www.theawl.com/2015/09/welcome-to-the-block-party

35

http://recode.net/2015/09/24/advertising-2-0-a-call-to-think/

http://www.bloomberg.com/features/2015-click-fraud/

doc searls on SHOSHANA ZUBOFF

👁



Randall rothenBerg's lame mea-culpa

😒


Industry’s broken opt-out

🕳

http://idlewords.com/talks/what_happens_next_will_amaze_you.htm

- Maciej Ceglowski

http://www.courthousenews.com/2016/03/16/facebook-mines-data-off-cancer-sites-users-say.htm?linkId=22651719


cancer.

🚬

http://www.courthousenews.com/2016/03/16/facebook-mines-data-off-cancer-sites-users-say.htm?linkId=22651719


the people vs. facebook

👥

http://fortune.com/2015/11/12/media-platforms/

https://ar.al/notes/the-nature-of-the-self-in-the-digital-age/

the people vs. facebook

http://www.technologyreview.com/featuredstory/543311/the-ad-blocking-kingpin-reshaping-the-web-as-he-prefers-it/


choose An adblocker wisely.

🚫

● ●

●●

●

●

●

0

2000

4000

6000

2012−0

1

2012−0

7

2013−0

1

2013−0

7

2014−0

1

2014−0

7

2015−0

1

Num

ber o

f Filt

ers

FilterCategory Restricted Blocking Unrestricted Sitekey

Added Sedo Sitekey

Whitelist Released in ABP 2.0

Added Reddit

Added Conversion Tracking for DoubleClick

Added Google Search ads

Added About.com

Added Unrestricted AdSense for Search

Figure 3: The growth of the Acceptable Ads whitelist. The whitelist has grown steadily since its introduction in 2011. On average, this filter list is updatedevery 1.5 days, adding or modifying 11.4 exception filters. The most recent version (Rev. 988 on April 28, 2015) includes 5,936 filters. Among these are exceptionsfor domain parking services, conversions tracking, and third-party ad networks.

3. ACCEPTABLE ADSIn May 2011, Adblock Plus’s creator, Wladimir Palant, outlined

the criteria for Acceptable Ads with the goal of “encourag[ing]websites to use advertising that users don’t perceive as annoying.”7

These guidelines have been refined multiple times based on feedbackfrom the community. Whitelisted sites are required to adhere tothese guidelines. To paraphrase the most recent criteria [1], sitesmust ensure that:

1. Advertisements cannot contain animations, sounds, or “attention-grabbing” images.

2. Advertisements cannot obscure page content or obstruct read-ing flow, i.e., the ad cannot be placed in the middle of a blockof text.

3. Advertisements must be clearly distinguished from the pagecontent and must be labeled using the word “advertisement”or equivalent terms.

4. Banner advertisements should not force the user to scrolldown to view page content.

After publishing the initial Acceptable Ads requirements, Palantand his partner, Till Faida, created Eyeo GmbH in August 2011.Their goal was to make the Adblock Plus project “more sustain-able” [8]. The following month, the company began surveying usersabout their willingness to allow advertising in some form.8 By theyear’s end released Acceptable Ads as an opt-out feature in AdblockPlus version 2.0.9

The program has been controversial. Eyeo drew criticism fromboth users and publishers when they confirmed that some companies—including Google, Microsoft, and Amazon—paid undisclosed amountsto be included in the whitelist [9,32]. Eyeo has stated that receivedfunds are used to sustain the program. Further, they state thatwhitelisting is free for smaller sites and all participants of the pro-gram must abide by the acceptable ads criteria.

7https://adblockplus.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=75518https://adblockplus.org/releases/adblock-plus-1310-released9https://adblockplus.org/releases/adblock-plus-20-released

Eyeo’s practices have incensed some publishers to such a degreethat they have accused the company of “extortion” and “shakingdown” websites [23]. Recently, this criticism has escalated to thecourtroom, and Eyeo is facing lawsuits in France and Germany [11,12,16]. In Germany, publishers filed suit against Eyeo claimingthat their product is anti-competitive and threatens their ability togenerate revenue. The regional court in Hamburg ruled in favor ofEyeo after a four month trial [15,33].

3.1 Filter List MaintenanceEyeo regularly updates the whitelist. On average, the company

adds or modifies 11.4 filters every 1.5 days, and has a documentedprocess for requesting new whitelist filters to be added. The processof adding new sites to the Acceptable Ads program comprises foursteps: contact, application, agreement, and inclusion.

The first step, contact, consists of communication between Eyeoand a perspective publisher. Either party may initiate this dialog [24].Next, Eyeo works with the publisher to ensure their site followsthe Acceptable Ads guidelines (the application step). Once Eyeoconfirms the site’s advertisements adhere to their policy, they estab-lish a private agreement with the publisher. These agreements mayinvolve a fee, but Eyeo does not currently disclose the fee structure,monetary value, or list of paying publishers. However, anecdotalsources claim the company has requested up to 30% of recoveredrevenue [5], and Eyeo acknowledges they have experimented withboth flat and performance-based fees [24]. After reaching an agree-ment, Adblock Plus adds the filter to the list and solicits communityfeedback on the application via an online forum.10 Forum postsmade after Nov. 2014 include links to the whitelist revision andoptional sample screenshots.

4. WHITELIST ANALYSISIn the following sections, we examine the complete history of

Eyeo’s Acceptable Ads program. Our analysis combines whitelistchanges with public disclosures and empirical observations of browserbehavior. We focus on answering the following broad questions.

10https://adblockplus.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=12

109

http://thankyouforadblocking.com

safe ads?

💣


http://thankyouforadblocking.comDavid Carroll (@profcarroll) Adblock is a boycott.

safe ads?

💣


https://theintercept.com/2015/11/12/edward-snowden-explains-how-to-reclaim-your-privacy/

http://www.wired.com/2015/11/court-says-tracking-web-histories-can-violate-wiretap-act/ http://www.cnbc.com/2015/11/09/privacy-will-hit-tipping-point-in-2016.html http://www.mondaynote.com/2015/11/09/ad-blockers-will-change-how-ads-are-sold

https://twitter.com/ashk4n/status/714889287133691905David Carroll (@profcarroll) Adblock is a boycott.

gaping security flaws

😱

https://twitter.com/ashk4n/status/714889287133691905

The Matrix (1999) Directed by The Wachowski Brothers

Where is this headed?

what now?

» Will big platforms swallow up publishing, advertising, and audiences in one gulp?

» Will adtech and media buying show any restraint?

» Will publishers sell direct? » Will people recapture their

privacy?


🔮Big Data + UX Meetup at Pivotal Labs

privacy is not only the right to keep a secret.

David Carroll (@profcarroll) Adblock is a boycott. Big Data + UX Meetup at Pivotal Labs

privacy is not only the right OF SECLUSION…


privacy is the right to construct your own identity.


privacy is the right to own to your own identity.


privacy by design. big data rights.



Latest stakeholder plan:

how to solve it?

» Let people complain about advertising.

» More brand ads, less ad spam.

» Target by placement, not eyeballs, solving privacy/security issues.

» Measure satisfaction, not eyeballs and clicks.

http://on.recode.net/1RYZjl6

http://on.recode.net/1RYZjl6

adblock is a boycott: the failure of big data to see it coming. version 2.0. big data + ux meetup

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