What is Browser Fingerprinting and why is it used? Browser Fingerprinting is often seen as an alternative to using Cookies to identify individual users online. There are similarities in the two approaches, but important differences too. Whereas Cookie-based identifiers will just save a unique ID to the user’s browsers, Browser Fingerprinting tries to identify a […]
How AdSense publishers can deal with ‘new’ Bitcoin extortion threats
A ‘new’ extortion scam seemingly targeting AdSense users has been widely discussed in publisher circles this month after being reported on in the much-respected KrebsOnSecurity blog. The scam seems to be a new take on the ever-popular Bitcoin extortion scam emails, with the threat now being to click-bomb a publisher’s site and get them banned […]
Firefox promises users “Ad-free internet” (for a price)
The Mozilla Foundation, the people behind the Firefox browser have been teasing the internet with what sounds a lot like the reinvention of Google Contribute – The “pay to see less ads” service that morphed into Funding Choices. The tease/announcement came as part of a build up to a subscription-based version of Firefox that is […]
Google Chrome will block “heavy” ads
A commit note, marked as work in progress on Chromium, suggests that Google Chrome will soon introduce a “Heavy ad intervention”. The change looks to target iframes that use excessive bandwidth or CPU resources. Implement Heavy Ad Intervention This change introduces a feature that unloads ad iframes that have been detected to use an egregious […]
Will the Global Better Ads Standards impact you?
If you use Google Ad Manager, then you may have come across this notification reminding you to comply with the Better Ads Standards: “Will the Global Betters Ads Standards impact you? Starting July 9, Chrome support for the Better Ads Standards expand globally. This may cause your ads to be filtered on Chrome browsers if […]
Amazon successfully wins bid for Sizmek’s ad serving technology
On May 31st, Amazon confirmed that they had agreed to acquire Sizmek’s Ad Server and Dynamic Creative Optimization (DCO) platform. This agreement concluded months of speculation following Sizmek declaring bankruptcy in March and selling off their demand-side platform in April. The retail giant rationalised their decision by explaining that the two companies have a similar […]