A while back, I stopped paying attention to anything at forbes.com. It wasn’t on purpose (a friend of mine blogs there) but because without JavaScript it serves up a big, blank, nothing. I tried a few times to selectively allow scripts via the Firefox extension NoScript, but no combination of what I considered reasonable permissions would work. I gave up.
Then a security researcher, casually web browsing with (for a security researcher) a normal setup that includes an ad blocker, found malicious software (malware) coming from an advertisement on the Forbes website.
When easy to use tools to block web ads became available, some bemoaned the end of the Free (Internet) World because sites would no longer be able to rely on ads for revenue. Of course users, subjected to ever more annoying advertisements, disagreed.
But whether or not you believe blocking ads is a communist plot to destroy the Internet, there is another problem that this Forbes experience neatly points out: security.
The trouble is that those ads now usually include dynamic content, code sent to your browser that causes windows to open or move around, stuff to dance on your screen, and generally create a nuisance. But since you can’t know exactly what is sent, there could be other things. Popular at the moment is installing what’s called “ransomware“, software that encrypts files on your computer until you pay up.
I don’t use a specific ad blocker because I’m already blocking dynamic content with NoScript. It’s basically the nuclear option, and isn’t for everyone. I still get ads, but without the singing and dancing (or malware.) If you want to try an actual ad blocker, here are some resources to look at:
The New York Times tests ad blockers for iOS 9
A survey of ad blocking browser plug-ins
Adblock Plus, a very popular plug-in for Firefox
