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

在线广告在允许绝大多数网络内容免费提供给用户方面发挥着关键作用，用户同意观看有针对性的广告以支持这些“免费”服务。不幸的是，在线广告的经济磁性使其成为各种滥用的诱人目标。例如，在线广告鼓励跨网站广泛跟踪用户，引发了隐私和监视问题。恶意广告是对用户的另一个严重安全威胁。因此，广告拦截器越来越受欢迎，因为它们不仅提供干净的浏览体验，而且还保护用户的安全和隐私。这项研究的动机是观察到，网站现在开始了一场军备竞赛，以打击广告拦截器，造成重大收入损失的出版商。发布者使用反广告拦截器来检测广告拦截器的存在并以某些方式做出反应（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，开发检测抗广告阻断剂的技术。(2)了解反广告拦截器的技术手段和可能采取的对策，可能会在广告拦截器方面。拟议的研究将为行业利益攸关方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.