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Browser mediated ads: not yet a set future. Should the browser take a role in the ad stack? Does it make sense for browsers to not just run scripts, but take an active role in the ad process? Yes. Why? B/c realistically the only pressure a consumer can exert is browser choice.Permalink On twitter.com
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Mood +1 🙂
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The more we dig into the problem of ad tech, the clearer it is that consumers have no capability to control their exposure to bad actors, they lack the tools to make nuanced decisions, and legit sites lack the tools to fully secure their visitors from the opaque box of ad tech.Permalink On twitter.com
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Mood -7 🙁
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At the end of the day the consumer should only be expected to make 2 choices: to visit a site and the browser they use to do so. Moving the final step of the ad stack--when the ad is shown--to the level of the browser lets the browser make interventions in accordance w/a positionPermalink On twitter.com
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If you want a fully private experience, the browser can intervene at the ad level to *force* compliance and withdraw APIs from the ad. If you want to be retargeted with a shoes ad, an attitude marketers claim is present, then adopting a browser that allows that is your choice.Permalink On twitter.com
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Mood +2 🙂
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There is a risk, the fracturing of the web, making particular sites that only allow particular browsers that meet their requirements for the way ads can interact with users. I agree, that's not great... but a user is far more capable of making a reactive choice to switch browsersPermalink On twitter.com
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Mood -2 🙁
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And, as an example: a world in which an individual user might make the choice to use a tryscroll browser to get one experience on news sites, a Safari browser to get a different experience on ad-heavy sites and a Firefox browser to use Facebook, is not really that terrible?Permalink On twitter.com
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Mood -3 🙁
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This isn't 1995. Brave is a great example of the fact that if you have a philosophy of the web, you can build your own browser to present the web in that way. A better case of course is a consistent privacy methodology in ad frames across all browsers, but it seems less likely.Permalink On twitter.com
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Mood +7 🙂
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I don't use Brave personally b/c I think the crypto aspect leads to engagement with just as unethical groups of people as ad tech does, just in a different vector. But that is *my personal opinion* and so I can make a different browser choice. I wouldn't recommend *against* BravePermalink On twitter.com
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Mood +4 🙂
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This is a hope for the future. You can align your browser choice with the way you want the web to work. If we can't get a consistent privacy experience across browsers, then it is better to split the users across a variety of browsers who are forced to compete w/features.Permalink On twitter.com
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Mood +4 🙂
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Generally, this is why I think it is worthwhile to spend time digging into any proposal that moves the metaphorical last mile of the ad stack into the browser's control and decision-making systems.On twitter.com
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I don't think there's a solid way we're going to break out of the opacity of ad tech without giving consumers more active capability to express their preference for different strategies of internet monetization. That can't be done on a per-site basis, or with ad blockers...Permalink On twitter.com
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Mood +4 🙂
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But it can be done if ads are mediated by browsers and browsers can then make distinct choices that differentiate themselves on how ads are allowed to fundamentally operate. Then the browsers can differentiate in the market and users can express an actual preference.Permalink On twitter.com
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The future of ad tech discussion has a tendency to get stuck on the q of user preference: do users prefer to see ads that track them cross-site across the web? I don't have an answer, but if we create a mechanic where browsers can provide different answers, consumers can choosePermalink On twitter.com
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Mood -2 🙁
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If we can't come to an answer on the future of privacy and ad tech collectively, and we don't think a consistent rule will be here via regulation for a while, then the best future is one where the browser acts as the agent of a user's distinct choice in that regard.Permalink On twitter.com
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Mood +3 🙂
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It is too much to ask a user to make a choice about which actors in the opaque box of ad tech they want to interact with. It's too much to ask them to figure out endless settings. But with a browser mediated ad tech future then they can make a choice they can make sense of.Permalink On twitter.com
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Mood +1 🙂
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And if the browser really is there to be the *agent of the user* then shouldn't they all want to be capable of enabling the user to make a real effective choice?Permalink On twitter.com
Mood +4 🙂
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And I see and acknowledge the concerns a browser owned by an ad tech co could side-channel a company's ad tech... but that's already the case. That's the case w/WebViews too. We can create systems to give users the choice to pick something else and have that choice be effective.Permalink On twitter.com
Mood +2 🙂
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I think we should fight for the most private possible web, but our goal post on the way should be systems which make it possible for users to act on a preference for more privacy. Right now, that's an unending battle against the nature of HTTP and the web. We need an alternative.Permalink On twitter.com
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Mood -2 🙁
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The interconnected nature of the web *will* be taken advantage of by bad actors. Trying to stamp down on those actors at individual gates of specific APIs & domains is a never ending fight. Put the last mile of the ad call in a protected box and let the browser enact preferences.Permalink On twitter.com
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I see a lot of legit disagreements, and that's fine, but we'll never have the right study to prove how users think they want to interact with ads on the web. So we need to have the space to let them choose, and I don't see a way without browser mediation.Permalink On twitter.com
Mood +3 🙂
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Retweeted some of the disagreements, and there are def smarter people than me out there both thinking and disagreeing about this... but I generally think that ads are going to be one of two ways in the future: mediated by browsers, or stitched in at the server level.Permalink On twitter.com
Mood +2 🙂
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I think the days of crazy shit executing whatever the hell it wants and crawling out of iframes is coming to an end. Ad Tech broke the iframe as a trustworthy specification, we need to make it either very different or start over with something specifically for ads.Permalink On twitter.com
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My big long term bet for you: one day in the future we'll look at the current iteration of iframes the way we look at Flash today.Permalink On twitter.com
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Mood +1 🙂