# Adblocking
## Reading Response
*Knowing what we know about online advertising, should users be able to easily block ads? If so, who then pays for the free content and services we consume?*

"Online ads aren’t simply ads. They’re actually surveillance tools that strangers use to abuse your privacy" (2020) as Sven Taylor puts it. Ad blockers have served as a dependable service for users to successfully block out ads from their web services. Sven Taylor believes this is important as "Online ads aren't simply ads"(2020) considering they allow advertisers to put legitimate trackers on our devices. Trackers gather information about our online activities and even personal lives that are then sold to other ad networks. These networks use a method called targeted advertising that utilizes this data to display ads that "predict" which products we are most likely to buy. Taylor then goes into detail about the Acceptable Ads program which allows ad blockers to display specific ads, and I disagree with this concept. Through this program, advertisers (some as big as Google, Reddit, and Amazon) are paying these adblockers (AdBlock Plus, uBlock, and more) large amounts of money to display their ads. Taylor desrcibes personal data as a "hot commodity" almost categorizing it as a product itself, one that disregards transparceny, awareness, and accountability.

A question I have that elicits concern is how are these mechanisms to get ads seen by users affecting *social capital*? A topic we discussed in class before. Taylor notices that these advertisers are "cashing in" and that we are "surrendering your private data to advertisers" (2020). But I push the question further as I still wonder how much of our social networks are becoming avenues for monetary gain and drifting away from actual reliable sources that form from personal connection. Can these big-name advertisers be trusted? What's the point if all of these services are just cash grabs and ways to grow *economic capital*? Another concept we covered in class. Going forward Without knowing the answers to these prominent questions, I wonder how our social networks will veer off the road of being just another "cash grab"?

## Screenshots

### **Before downloading**
- For this demonstration I am using YouTube. As you can see before I downloaded the ad blocker (in this case I am using uBlock Origin) there is a skippable ad playing before the video and even ads for grammarly on the sidebar. There is also sponsored products in the sidebar as well.


### **After downloading**
- After downloading the ad blocker I am allowed to view the video without any ads or interruptions. The ads on the sidebar are also no longer to be found. I use ad blockers on my desktop computer for this very reason as I find it makes viewing much less interrupting.