---
date: '2024-05-03T13:15-08:00'
title: 'Adblocker required'
description: "You open your browser, you go to check sports scores. The page shifts down to show you an ad, you click to close it and open the page by accident. You close the tab, you close the ad, you scroll down and you see sponsored content from a gambling partner."
tags: ['tech', 'privacy', 'surveillance capitalism']
---
You open your browser, you go to check sports scores. The page shifts down to show you an ad, you click to close it and open the page by accident. You close the tab, you close the ad, you scroll down and you see sponsored content from a gambling partner.<!-- excerpt -->

You head over to a news site you check frequently and see ads targeted at you from the page you accidentally opened. This time you scroll past them, click on an article and hit a paywall. It includes a banner ad with the login prompt.

You close the tab, head over to Google News and search for some coverage. You find it, open it and it routes the link through Google’s servers while attaching some UTM parameters.

You see more targeted ads from your first visit. The coverage seems correct.

You open a social networking app to see if your friends are talking about it.

*Unrelated post.*

*Ad*

*Related post*

You comment and keep scrolling.

*Ad*

*Ad*

You close the app.

You turn back to work, open your email and see a companywide email about a benefit from some new partner you’ve never heard of. There’s an info session on your calendar.

You open your ticketing system and are greeted with a full screen modal you don’t recognize. You close it reflexively. It disappears and you’re greeted with an entirely new UI.

You pull down the latest changes and are greeted by 15 funding requests. You create a new branch and do your work.

You go to GitHub, dismiss the banner announcing some new AI feature and open your pull request.

You throw on a podcast and are greeted by a preroll add. The hosts talk for a few minutes — it’s an interesting episode — and then they try to sell you a mattress.

You switch to music, throw on your favorite radio station and are greeted by a song you don’t recognize. It’s generated by AI. You skip to the next track.

You check your email, see 3 emails from the place you ordered jeans from last week. You click unsubscribe, they take you to a preferences page, you adjust your preferences, hit save and the page shows you an error. You delete the emails.

You log off for the day. You open your favorite streaming app, start the show you’ve been meaning to catch up on and are greeted by a preroll add — you missed the email about their new ad free tier. You watch the show and it’s interrupted by the same ad (they’re working on their ad inventory).

You finish the day and head to bed, throwing on your favorite white noise app. Right as you’re about to doze off you find out the hard way that they too have included ads (don’t worry – they’re not that intrusive).