FBI gives ad blockers the seal of approval
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As we enter the festive season, it’s peak trading time for online scammers – but thankfully the FBI has stepped in and recommended the use of ad blockers to stay safe.
In a recent public service announcement, the agency warned that fake ads can appear at the top of search results, are indistinguishable from the results themselves, and can be very persuasive when mimicking legitimate brands.
The FBI said ads can pretend to come from cryptocurrency exchanges, and clicking them can lead to malware being installed on your system, stealing sensitive data and ultimately your money.
Stay safe
Other agency recommendations include checking the URL before clicking a link to make sure it’s legit by checking for spelling errors, and typing the web address directly into your browser for the company you’re looking for instead of looking for it.
In its advice to industry, the FBI recommended using domain protection services to be notified when similar domain names are registered and to inform customers about scam websites.
Ad blockers do what they say: they prevent ads from appearing in your browser. The main benefit is that it prevents intrusive and long-loading ads, such as videos, from getting in your way and slowing you down.
However, they also prevent these ads from tracking you, preventing big data aggregators like Google and Facebook from discovering your browsing habits while you’re online, both on desktops and mobile devices.
For this reason, the agency’s announcement is unlikely to please the big tech, which seems to balance between trying to nullify its use without upsetting the large user base of such extensions.
Recently, the popular ad blocker uBlock Origin has been complaining about the upcoming API changes in Chrome, which seem to prevent Chrome and other ad blocker extensions from working in Chrome browsers. Browsers built on chromium include Microsoft Edge and Opera.
Google also confirmed in the summer that VPN apps on Android devices that block ads will no longer be available in the Play Store.