SaTC: CORE: Small: Collaborative: The Web Ad Technology Arms Race: Measurement, Analysis, and Countermeasures

在线广告在允许向用户免费提供绝大多数网络内容方面发挥着关键作用，用户同意观看定向广告以支持这些“免费”服务，这是一种隐含的交换条件。不幸的是，网络广告的经济吸引力使其成为各种滥用的诱人目标。例如，在线广告刺激了对网站用户的广泛跟踪，引发了对隐私和监控的担忧。恶意广告是对用户的另一个严重安全威胁。因此，广告拦截软件越来越受欢迎，因为它们不仅提供了干净的浏览体验，还保护了用户的安全和隐私。这项研究的动机是观察到网站正在开始一场军备竞赛，以对抗广告拦截软件，这给出版商带来了巨大的收入损失。发布商使用反广告拦截器来检测广告拦截器的存在，并以特定的方式做出反应（例如，提醒用户关闭广告拦截器）。具体来说，研究将主要集中在两个方面：(1)衡量广告拦截器和反广告拦截器之间的军备竞赛，例如，开发检测反广告拦截器的技术。(2)了解反广告拦截软件的技术手段以及广告拦截方可能采取的对策。拟议的研究将为行业利益相关者和政策制定者提供信息。

Online advertising plays a critical role in allowing a vast majority of web content to be offered free of charge to users, with the implicit quid pro quo agreement that users agree to watch targeted ads to support these "free" services. Unfortunately, the economic magnetism of online advertising has made it an attractive target for various types of abuses. For instance, online advertising incentivizes the widespread tracking of users across websites raising privacy and surveillance concerns. Malvertising is another serious security threat to users. As a result, ad-blockers are gaining popularity because they not only provide a clean browsing experience but also protect user security and privacy. The research is motivated by the observation that websites are now starting an arms race to fight against ad-blockers that cause significant revenue loss to the publishers. Publishers use anti ad-blockers to detect the presence of ad-blockers and react in certain ways (e.g., reminding users to turn off ad-blockers). Specifically, the research will be primarily focused on two fronts: (1) Measuring the arms race between ad-blockers and anti ad-blockers, e.g., developing techniques to detect anti ad-blockers. (2) Understanding the technological means of anti ad-blockers and possible countermeasures that may follow on the ad-blocker side. The proposed research will inform industry stakeholders and policymakers.