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Ad blocking Is a form of user customization of information presentation. For instance, to selectively not display information of little interest to the user, or content the user deems harmful or offensive, or to conserve resources by not processing some information. Blocking ads can increase security, can improve accessibility, It can also speed up devices and make them more reliable (decrease network traffic, decrease processor/memory usage).
Consumer impact summary
Advertising is pervasive online, and increasingly showing up in devices (e.g., refrigerators, cars, operating systems, televisions). Ad block can help consumers own their own devices by controlling what the devices do. Advertisements can be dangerous, by misleading or distracting the user, and by tracking or damaging the device. Many sources, including US government agencies, suggest ad block as a way of enhancing security. There are efforts to use copyright law (e.g., DMCA/spotify/revanced, and German court case) to force consumers to play ads or run other programs on devices.[1]
Examples
Some of the add-ons / extensions / plug-ins below are not necessarily ad-blocking software but do contribute to blocking advertisements or reduce or eliminate the amount of data you share online.
Internet Browsers
A for Android, i for iOS, L for Linux, W for Windows
Browser base: C for Chromium, F for Firefox
If a browser is not listed "officially" for an add-on in the table below but shares the "Based on" attribute with a browser that is, it may (but is not guaranteed to) work with that browser.
| Based on | "Do Not Track" feature | DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials | NoScript | Privacy Badger | uBlock Origin | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brave | C | ||||||
| Chrome | C | L, W | |||||
| DuckDuckGo | C | A | |||||
| Edge | C | L, W | |||||
| Firefox | F | A, L, W | A, L, W | A, L, W | A, L, W | A, L, W | |
| Firefox Developer Edition | F | L, W | L, W | L, W | L, W | L, W | |
| Opera | C | ||||||
| Safari | - | ||||||
| Vivaldi | C | ||||||
| Waterfox | F | L, W | L, W | L, W | L, W | L, W |
Further Reading
References
- ↑ Claburn, Thomas (08/15/25). "No more Blocktoberfest? German court throws book at ad blockers". The Register.
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