An Ad Blocker Opens the Gate, Ever So Slightly
By NOAM COHEN
ADBLOCK PLUS became the most popular piece of “add-on” software for the Firefox Web browser, in part, because it had a simple mission: see online ad, block online ad. The name said it all — and each day 10 million people or so surf the Internet with Adblock Plus installed, presumably never missing the advertising they were meant to see.
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Adblock Plus, the popular add-on for Web browsers, has tweaked its filters to allow some ads through.
In December, however, Adblock Plus introduced a new concept, the “acceptable ad” — that is, an ad so inoffensive that it shouldn’t necessarily be blocked by the software. And nothing has been quite so simple since.
Under a new default setting for all users of Adblock Plus, these online ads will appear. (A user can still opt out with a couple of clicks and block all ads as before.)
For purists among the community of users and programmers who support the open-source project, “acceptable ad” has the ring of doublespeak, as in, “all ads are equal, but some ads are more equal than others.”
via An Ad Blocker Opens the Gate, Ever So Slightly – NYTimes.com.