| ▲ | Google Ad Injection(push.cx) |
| 20 points by todsacerdoti 12 hours ago | 13 comments |
| |
|
| ▲ | handfuloflight 11 hours ago | parent | next [-] |
| Author links to https://support.google.com/websearch/thread/308719098/page-a... which says: > Now, we’ll extract interesting information from Google Knowledge Graph entities and highlight them in line. When the user clicks on the highlighted entity, it will open the app tray, so you can easily find out more information, right when curiosity strikes. This new experience allows people to quickly get additional context about people, places or things. These aren't ads as in what is served through AdWords. |
| |
| ▲ | soraminazuki 3 hours ago | parent [-] | | It doesn't matter, it's still an ad. Adwords aren't the only form of ads. See the reviews and purchase links in the screenshot? That's how Google is going to profit from this. Adwords is only a small part of the modern day Google's monetization efforts. Today, they're doing everything they can to prevent users navigating away from Google property[1]. They plagiarize content from other websites and put it above search results. By 2020, less than 2/3 of Google searches ended in a click to traditional search results [2]. Why would they do that? So that they can show you more ads, of course. This is yet another attempt to direct users away from the websites they were browsing to Google's ad platform. It's particularly egregious because it's disguised as the website's own doing. [1]: https://themarkup.org/google-the-giant/2020/07/28/google-sea... [2]: https://sparktoro.com/blog/in-2020-two-thirds-of-google-sear... |
|
|
| ▲ | soraminazuki 11 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| So this is a small taste of what's coming if Chrome dominance gets more worse than it is today. All the more reason to support and promote independent browsers. |
|
| ▲ | Ukv 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| A mobile browser turning plaintext URLs, phone numbers, addresses, place names, etc. into clickable links seems mostly fine to me. I'd consider it an ad if Osaka Castle were paying Google to appear as a link on mentions of castles - which, while I wouldn't trust Google to never do that, I don't think is what's happening currently. |
|
| ▲ | Jyaif 10 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| This feature is basically just a shortcut to copy paste text in the app. I actually wouldn't mind having this in my mobile browser, assuming it works well. |
| |
| ▲ | soraminazuki 9 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | This is nothing at all like copy and paste. It's a MITM attack. With copy and paste, the user is in control. With this attack, only Google is in control. Not the user, not even the website owner, but an ad company. The plain fact is that Google is injecting its own content at its own discretion while disguising it to make it look like it's the website owner that did it. What would you think if I randomly injected my own promotional content in your HN comments in a way that's indistinguishable from your own writing? A few, if any, people on this site might not mind, but the overwhelming majority will. | | |
| ▲ | handfuloflight 6 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | > With this attack, only Google is in control. Not the user, not even the website owner, but an ad company. You, as a website owner, can opt out via: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1h9I0TbN-H_1e85CqXYb1ng7rQfg... > What would you think if I randomly injected my own promotional content in your HN comments in a way that's indistinguishable from your own writing? Through what vector, the Unofficial Hacker News for iOS app that you maintain? Because that's the correct analogy here. Also stating 'promotional content' is being disingenuous to the type of Google content states it will surface through these links, see my other comment on this thread. I'm not in support of what Google is doing but I think we should be fair in our assessment and especially in our presentation of our assessment to others. | | |
| ▲ | SahAssar 2 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | Only being able to opt-out by having the page registered in Google Search Console is pretty awful. I shouldn't have to use a google product to tell google to not modify my website. | |
| ▲ | soraminazuki 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | > You, as a website owner, can opt out via In other words, Google dictates the terms. I was forcibly opted in to this without my knowledge. To say no to this, I need a Google account and agree to their terms of service. How is anyone but Google in control here? > Through what vector, the Unofficial Hacker News for iOS app that you maintain? Through a browser, ISP, or unlawful access to HN servers. Doesn't matter. It's shady to disguise your own content as someone else's work. > Also stating 'promotional content' is being disingenuous to the type of Google content states it will surface through these links, see my other comment on this thread. I stand by my words. Please see the reply to your other comment. |
| |
| ▲ | Jyaif 8 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | When you think about it, the goal of browsers is to MITM the data in order to present it in a way that is helpful to the users. > What would you think if I randomly injected my own promotional content in your HN comments in a way that's indistinguishable from your own writing It's a simplification, but in short if you create a bad browser, people
won't use it. |
| |
| ▲ | barryvan 9 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | Not quite, though. It's a shortcut to copy-and-paste text into a _Google_ app. For example, this wouldn't let you use Apple Maps or TripAdvisor or whatever other system you may prefer, instead funnelling you into Google's ecosystem. It's an attempt to bypass competitors hidden under by a façade of convenience. | | |
| ▲ | Jyaif 8 hours ago | parent [-] | | I was careful to say "into _the_ app". That being said I agree, if there's one criticism that is valid it's that this app should allow you to choose your providers.
Anybody knows if it already does? |
|
|
|
| ▲ | 12 hours ago | parent | prev [-] |
| [deleted] |
