Google’s AMP initiative at least has a defined goal: to keep ads from harming loading speeds and revising how ads are served. This refreshing of online advertising still has yet to be defined, as Silicon Valley has the resources to wage a war of attrition against us and win, but they are competing against consumer attitudes rather than ad blockers. Consumers are aware of how morally corrupt online advertising is, so beating people over the head with uncompromised capitalism is only going to cause trouble.
In fact, ad blockers-both on home computers and mobile devices-have achieved symbiosis with the open source community. With many circumvention breakthroughs, what’s been good for the goose has been good for the gander. Ad blocking apps, plugins, and browsers are all guaranteed to make use of some type of open source tools. This is a peaceful environment for all involved, and from our experience, users have even felt inclined to help us out of good nature. Maybe the real battle is ideological; corporatism versus individualism.
