MyTrackingChoices:PacifyingtheAd-BlockWarbyEnforcing

UserPrivacyPreferences

114/06/16

WEIS,2016UniversityofCalifornia,Berkeley

Ad-supportedeconomicmodeloftheWeb

isunderthreattoday!

2

publishers(adindustry)

users(adblockingsoNware)

AdBlockWar

Whyad-supportedeconomyindanger

intrusiveandannoyingadsprivacy-invasiveadsadsareasourceofmalwareadsslowdownthepageloadingnetworkbandwidthconsumpPonetc.

userswereprovidedwithradicaltools–  i.e.,toolsthatblockALLads

3

basically,allthereasonswhypeoplestartedto

blockadsinthefirstplace1

2

Effortsforeconomicrevival

1.  variousself-regulatroyiniPaPves– AcceptableAds–  L.E.A.N.program–  YourOnlineChoices–  YourAdChoices– DNT

2.  toolswithsomefine-grainedopPonsforusers–  userscanwhite-listorblack-listtrackers(adverPsers)–  userscanwhite-listorblack-listadomain

4

Self-regulatoryiniPaPvesdonotwork

5

Lackoftechnicalenforcementistherootproblem!

Currentfine-grainedopPons

6

blockingbasedonthird-partyor

blockingonperdomainbasis

notusable

donotmakesensefromuserperspecPve(usersonlycareabouttheirbrowsingprofile)

Ourapproach

•  technicalenforcementofuserchoices–  shouldnotrelyonself-regulaPon

•  fine-grainedopPonsoverthereasonswhypeopleblockads–  thatareusableanddomakesenseforusers

•  hasthepotenPaltorevivead-supportedeconomicmodel

7

Fine-grainedopPons(1)

•  w.r.t.privacy–  letusersdecidewherethey’reokornottogettracked

8

Profile Allowed?

Adult ✖

Sports ✔

Health ✖

Economy ✔

… …

(Donot)TrackMeSome1mes:Users’ContextualPreferencesforWebTracking,PETS,2016

userswouldbeabletocontroltheprofile

trackershave

Fine-grainedopPons(2)

•  w.r.t.intrusiveness– maximumnumberofadsperpage(onpageswhereusersareoktobetracked)

–  type,size,placementofads

9

MyTrackingChoices(MTC)

10

MyTrackingChoices

fine-grainedopPonsoverprivacy(tracking)

KeyworkingassumpPonsomecategories(adult,health,etc.)aremoreprivacy-sensiPvethanothers(sports,fashion)

anaeempttofindatrade-offbetweenprivacy

andeconomy

11

12

13

categories decision

14

category decision

CategorizaPon•  perwebpagebasis(≠perdomain)

Benefitswebsite:adswouldbeblockedonlyonsensiPve-categorywebpages(mostrevenuepreserved)

user:cantechnicallycontrolhisprofileyetconPnuereceivingfreecontent

•  Apageiscategorizedlocallybasedon–  domains/subdomains/hostname–  unigramsandbigrams

15

CanMTCpacifytheAd-BlockWar?

16

Ad-BlockWar

Publishers

Users

17

Adtech AdBlockingtech

Ad-BlockWar

18

[1]AdblockingandCounter-Blocking:ASliceoftheArmsRace,arxiv,2016

[2]AFirstLookatAd-BlockDetec1on–ANewArmsRaceontheWeb,arxiv,2016

EvaluaPonofdatafromMTCusers

19

Dataset

•  96users– whobrowsed20ormorewebpagesandconfigured,atleast,oncetheirtrackingopPons

–  foundtheextensiononChromeWebStoreindependentlyorthroughvariouspublicitychannels

•  FromJanuary11toFebruary20,2016

20

Blockedcategories

21

MoreusersblockedsensiPvecategories

30%usersblockedallcategories!

Othereconomicmodelsneeded!

DistribuPonBlocked/AllowedURLs

22

Intotal,only33.19%ofbrowsedwebpageswereblocked.

DistribuPonBlocked/AllowedAds

23

23.8%adswereblockedoverall.

2015loss(21.8à5.18billion)

Conclusions

•  giveusersfine-grainedcontroloverthereasonswhytheystartedtoblockads– win-winsituaPonforallstakeholders

•  provideuserswithtoolsthattechnicallyenforcetheirchoices(noself-regulaPon!)– sucheffortshavethepotenPaltopacifythecurrentad-blockwar

24

TODOs

•  provideuserswithfine-grainedcontrolw.r.t.intrusiveness

•  makeMyTrackingChoicesarealproduct(andnotjustresearchprototype)

25

Announcements

Pleasedownload,use,andgivefeedbackonMTCforGoogleChrome

heps://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/mytrackingchoices/fmonkjimgifgcgeocdhhgbfoncmjclka?hl=fr

MozillaFirefoxversioncomingsoon!

26

ThanksforyouraeenPon!QuesBons?

Projectwebpage:heps://myrealonlinechoices.inrialpes.frWatchonYouTube:heps://youtu.be/mzB1hXhqYBE

27