Is a detection-proof ad blocker theoretically possible? (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 month ago by Boozilla@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

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Not asking for tech support here, just wondering if in theory it would be possible to create a plug-in or even a complete browser that blocks ads in a way that's impossible to detect. One model that comes to mind is a quarantined / containerized non-blocking virtual browser which queries the web server directly, then the UX filters the content from that container and presents it to the user ad-free. As far as the web server can tell, the containerized browser is just vanilla Chromium.

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[-] praise_idleness@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 month ago

There is no "perfect"(impossible to detect in this case) in anything. Perfection is a target that keeps changing.

What can you do when for example YouTube decides to bake in ads directly into the video source(they are actually testing this, although its feasibility is questionable)? You can't block it, for now. In the future, you might be able to detect that with let's say CV and AI and might be able to block it then. But then YouTube will do something about it.

[-] Celestus@lemm.ee 6 points 1 month ago

They’ll probably include a manifest with the video, telling the player what time ranges are un-skippable. A script could hook into that, and auto-skip them

[-] Asudox@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

That's what uBlock Origin planned to do if YouTube ever decided to etch ads into the video stream itself.

this post was submitted on 04 Sep 2024

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