Why ad blockers are a top security and privacy defense for everyone
For my day job, I write almost exclusively about when things go wrong. And so on the occasion that someone in my friends or family (none of whom are nuclear scientists or government spies, admittedly) asks me for something more positive, such as my top security advice for staying safe online, I usually say:
"Use a password manager, two-factor all your accounts, and use an ad-blocker."
The first two things might make sense. But an ad blocker, really?
An ad blocker is a software filter that prevents ads and their tracking code from loading on your computer, phone, or other device. Using an ad blocker means you will get a much cleaner and faster web browsing experience with far fewer ads, popups, and other distractions because the bloated tracking and advertising code never loads to begin with.
But ad blockers do so much more than that by acting as a shield against a range of privacy risks, security threats, and pervasive online tracking today, which the ads industry has long enabled.
The reality is that almost every website on the internet contains ads and other tracking code, meaning that ad companies have enormous visibility into the websites you visit and the links you click on. These advertising giants include Facebook, Google, and Microsoft, which already have huge amounts of information about you. Ads that display on your phone can also leak your real-world location, which over time gets sold to data brokers who then sell your location history to government agencies and the military. And, bad ads in search results can trick unsuspecting victims into visiting malicious sites and installing legitimate-looking apps that actually contain malware.
As such, using an ad blocker is one of my top pieces of security advice I give. Even the FBI urges internet users to use an ad blocker.
I have used ad blockers for years. As a journalist and as a content creator, I've heard the claims that using an ad blocker is 'theft' or 'stealing' from the websites that offer their content for free. In practice, online ads rely on regular internet users like you giving up gobs of your identifiable information as you browse the web — without your consent — just to be served some ad begging you to click on it to buy some random product. As the EFF puts it: "When you see an ad, the ad sees you, and can track you."
This is why so many websites — including this one! — rely on asking you to subscribe to read so that we can pay the bills without having to run ads or participate in the icky surveillance model that also drags you into it.
In this article, we explore how ad blockers work, how they protect you from these very real threats, and we'll look at some of the better ad blockers out there that you can use for your computers and other devices.
