Study: 93% Know About Ad Blockers, Yet Only 19% Find Them Completely Effective

Ever since websites have started getting ads, many consumers have started using Ad Blockers, especially on YouTube to block ads. Recently, YouTube also rolled out a crackdown on ad blockers, which made consumers look for alternatives for ad blockers. All About Cookies conducted a survey on the number of people who use ad blockers, and how effective ad blockers are.

According to the study, 93% of the respondents knew about ad blockers while only 19% of them said that ad blockers are completely effective. It was also found that 33% of the respondents have never used ad blockers on their mobile phones and computers. Many websites request turning off ad blockers but 20% of the people who were surveyed admitted that they never turn off ad blockers despite requests from websites. For the websites that solely rely on ad revenues, 52% of the respondents said that they do not feel guilty for visiting those sites with ad blockers on. Only 5% say that they turn off ad blockers if a website asks them to.

Ad blockers have been growing in popularity with video streaming platforms like YouTube. Consumers do not want to get interrupted by ads while watching videos so they use ad blockers. 93% of the people who use the internet are familiar with ad blocker software while 66% of them know how to use them effectively. 27% of the internet users do not understand ad blockers completely while 8% of them have never heard of ad blockers in their lives.

People use ad blockers differently like some using free or paid versions or some using them on their mobiles or laptops. Most of the internet users use free ad blockers with only one in ten using the paid version. The use of ad blockers is higher on computers or laptops (68%) than it is on mobile phones (50%).

In addition to blocking ads, some ad blockers can protect the devices from some harmful virus or malware and can also protect the privacy of users. When asked why people use ad blockers, 71% of them said that they use it to block ads while 59% said that they use it to protect their devices against malware and viruses. 54% want to protect their privacy online and that’s why they use ad blockers.

The study also asked internet users if they have stopped watching a video or skipped a website because of ads, to which 67% answered yes while 33% said no. Many websites and apps like YouTube have introduced its premium services which do not make users see ads if they subscribe to it in exchange of some fee. 58% of the internet users said they do not want to pay subscription fee to avoid ads while 42% said they will pay for a subscription if it means they will no longer see ads during browsing.

Read next: The 5 Eyes Alliance Can Spy On You Wherever You Are, Here's What You Can Do to Protect Yourself
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Data Removal Services Become Somewhat Popular in America Amid Privacy Concerns

Whenever you make a personal purchase or sign up for a website, your personal data is sold to data brokers, which sometimes resulting in identity theft. To tackle this problem, digital data removal services have been getting popular, wiping your data from the internet so it doesn’t get used for malicious purposes. The tools for data removal services clean up all of your online data regularly. A study by SecurityOrg shows that less than half of Americans know about data removal services. Only 6% of the respondents out of 14 million total people in the USA said that they use data removal services. The three most popular data removal tools are DeleteMe, Mozilla Monitor Plus, Reputation Defender by Norton, and Incogni.

Even though not many people know about data removal services, people have slowly started using them to keep themselves safe from data breaches and identity theft. The top reasons why Americans want to use data removal services are for enhancing personal privacy, protecting themselves against identity theft and data breaches, removing their specific data points, managing their digital footprints and reducing their exposure to marketers and robo-callers.

Right now, 85% of Americans are concerned about their data privacy and people older than 55 years are more concerned than people between the ages of 18-24. Despite knowing how sensitive their data is, many internet users are still giving their information to websites which make them vulnerable to data brokers. Most Americans do not even read privacy policies before giving away their data while only 3% of Americans go through privacy policies on websites.

Data brokers also sometimes sell data to the US government that is obtained from different apps that are used to talk to and interact with their family and friends. Only half of the respondents knew about this while 71% were shocked to know about this reality. Upon asking if they know what a data broker is, only 37% of the US adults knew what it was. 85% said that the government should take measures to stop sharing users’ personal data. 48% of the respondents were concerned that their personal data can be used to train AI models which is a possibility in the near future.

94% of the internet users in the USA do not use any data removal services and there are a number of reasons for this. Some Americans say that they cannot afford data removal services because of their high costs while some are concerned about their effectiveness. To make users trust them, data removal service providers should make their services affordable and raise awareness about data removal to the public.

Read next:

• WARC Report: Meta to Lead Social Media Ad Market, Surpassing $155.6B by Year's End

• 51% of Brits Concerned About Paywall Restrictions, Survey Reveals
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

51% of Brits Concerned About Paywall Restrictions, Survey Reveals

A new study from The Trade Desk conducted by Appinio reveals that UK consumers, just like Americans, do not like paywalls. Many websites have started using paywalls where they only give complete access to the content to paid subscribers, while the non-subscribers get limited access or no access at all. 51% of the respondents from the UK say that they are afraid that they are not going to access their favorite websites and apps in the near future because of paywalls and subscriptions.

Upon asking about usage of free content on websites, 65% of the consumers said that they only read news or current affairs content for freebies while 77% of them said that they immediately find the free content when they open a website and are greeted by a paywall. According to the study, 88% of the UK consumers want all the free content and they are not worried about breaking the rules to consume it. 34% of them admitted that they use means that make them access websites and their content even behind a paywall.

On the contrary, 87% are up for paying for content with their data, while 26% out of them say that they will pay if they are under control of their data. 27% of the UK consumers are ready to pay with their data if their privacy is protected and they cannot be identified. As an alternative to paywalls, UK consumers are willing to see ads if they are beneficial to brands, publishers and consumers. But many websites are not in favor of this offer.

Image: DIW-Aigen

Read next: The 5 Eyes Alliance Can Spy On You Wherever You Are, Here's What You Can Do to Protect Yourself
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Is AI Killing Creativity? OpenAI's Shocking Revelation Sparks Outrage!

OpenAI often professes its mission to develop a superintelligent computer system that benefits humanity. However, it frequently stumbles in its communication, portraying AI in a manner that seems more likely to alienate rather than unite people.

During a discussion about AI at Dartmouth University, hosted by the engineering department and featuring Dartmouth Trustee Jeffrey Blackburn, OpenAI's CTO Mira Murati made a remark about the impact of AI on creative professions. She suggested that some creative jobs might disappear because the content produced was not of high quality, implying that such roles perhaps should not have existed in the first place. Murati added that AI could enhance intelligence when used as a tool for education and creativity.

For those skeptical of generative AI who view it as largely built on the illusion of originality, Murati's statements are especially aggravating. Her comment comes across as dismissive, insinuating that certain professionals do not deserve their jobs in the AI era. This sentiment is infuriating not only to creative professionals but to anyone who values their work and effort.

Image: DIW-Aigen

Previously, Murati seemed uncomfortable when questioned about whether OpenAI's Sora video tool was trained using YouTube videos. This incident contributes to the growing perception that OpenAI is antagonistic toward creative industries. There is a notable lack of trust in the authority of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and his team to decide whose job is valuable, especially after Altman’s controversial comments about AI potentially replacing "median humans."

Many geeks who are outside the AI development sphere, hold the belief that human potential is unique and invaluable. Every individual deserves an opportunity to realize their capabilities fully. Contrary to this belief, OpenAI appears to undermine these values. This is the same company that once appropriated an actress's voice without consent. Ed Zitron, in one of his recent newsletters, highlighted the dangers of not holding such companies accountable. He warned that failing to scrutinize their practices would harm creatives whose work is being appropriated. Zitron also criticized the corporate tendency to integrate AI into products to satisfy investors, which, he argued, detracts from the tech ecosystem’s value and enriches a few at the expense of many.



This post was published using the help of AI.

Read next: Apple Delays EU Launch of Apple Intelligence Due to Antitrust Rules
by Web Desk via Digital Information World

Apple Delays EU Launch of Apple Intelligence Due to Antitrust Rules

Apple won’t be releasing Apple Intelligence and three other features in the EU in 2024. This is because of privacy concerns around the Digital Markets Act (DMA). The regulation requires services to be interoperable across platforms to promote competition and reduce the power of big companies like Apple.

The company says Apple Intelligence, iPhone Mirroring and SharePlay screen sharing will not be available to EU users. The interoperability requirements of the DMA pose a risk to user privacy and data security and Apple won’t compromise on that.

The DMA was introduced in 2023 to address the power of big tech companies like Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft and ByteDance (TikTok’s parent company). It requires fundamental features to work seamlessly across different devices and ecosystems. Although it mainly affects iPhones and iPads, Macs are also impacted because of iPhone Mirroring which allows iPhone screens to be mirrored on Mac screens.

Users may be disappointed Apple Intelligence won’t be available. This AI product had features like proofreading, custom emojis called Genmoji, searching specific messages, summarizing and transcribing calls, and highlighting priority notifications. Apple also announced a partnership with OpenAI and plans to add more models to the platform.

Despite the news Apple’s stock didn’t move much. In 2023 Apple made $94.3 billion in Europe which is almost a quarter of its global net sales. Apple also said Apple Intelligence won’t be available in Greater China which made $72.6 billion of its 2023 sales.

Apple will continue to work with the EU to find a way to deliver these features to EU users.

Image: DIW-Aigen

Read next: New Benchmark Shows AI Agents Struggling with Real-World Tasks
by Asim BN via Digital Information World

New Benchmark Shows AI Agents Struggling with Real-World Tasks

A customer experience AI startup, Sierra, has developed a new benchmark that helps in evaluating the performance of AI chatbot agents. The benchmark is named TAU-bench and is evaluated by having conversations with LLM-stimulated users while doing complex tasks. The results show that AI agents which are made with simple LLMs are not able to perform simple tasks. This means that companies need more advanced AI agents for work.

Sierra’s head of research, Karthik Narasimhan, says that Sierra’s benchmark is helping real-world users evaluate the performance and reliability of the AI agents which is important if you want the AI agents to work in a real world setting. He also added that many other benchmarks like SWE-bench, Agentbench and WebArena have also been created for the same purpose but they are not successful in working to their full extent. They are only able to evaluate a single round of agent-human interaction, without answering about more dynamics. This makes them less reliable and adaptable.

As other benchmarks were experiencing some issues, Sierra addressed those issues with TAU-bench. It represented three requirements for the benchmark– the agents should interact smoothly in the real world settings, agents should follow rules and policies given for the task and agents should be reliable so companies can work without having to worry about their results. Many tasks were given to TAU-bench like working on real databases to different APIs and other complex tasks that required it to have conversations with the agents. Every assignment given the agent was about retaining information, performing complex tasks and communicating through real conversation.

The four main features of Sierra’s benchmark after experimenting with it were TAU-benchmark can do realistic dialog, can perform open ended and diverse tasks, do faithful objective evaluation and provide a modular framework. TAU was tested using 12 popular LLMs including GPT-4, Claude-3, Gemini and Llama. All the agents performed poorly, including ChatGPT-4 which got less than 50% average success rate in all domains.

Read next: The 5 Eyes Alliance Can Spy On You Wherever You Are, Here's What You Can Do to Protect Yourself
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

The 5 Eyes Alliance Can Spy On You Wherever You Are, Here's What You Can Do to Protect Yourself

When Edward Snowden revealed that the NSA was secretly spying on American citizens, people began to realize the inherent fragility of the world we are all living in. Snowden’s expose shed some light on the murky, interconnected intelligence networks around the world. Most countries have comprehensive intelligence networks, and while they are legally prohibited from spying on their own citizens, collaborations between these agencies provide a bit of a loophole.

Five major nations have banded together to form the Five Eyes alliance. These countries are the US, Canda, the UK, Australia and New Zealand. They share several similarities such as being former British colonies, Anglophone nations as well as having overlapping geopolitical interests with all things having been considered and taken into account.

Another common thread between these nations is that they were all on the same side during World War 2. hence, it is unsurprising that they decided to join forces in 1946. With the USSR emerging as another superpower to the East, challenging the neoliberal world order that the US and its allies were trying to cement, the Five Eyes alliance attempted to keep the rising red tide at bay.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that the NSA is the unofficial leader of the Five Eyes alliance. Signatories to the agreement are able to access vast quantities of NSA data, and they return the favor by sharing secret information that they may be in possession of.

The other four countries, namely Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the UK are referred to as second parties. They have the most unrestricted access to NSA data, but it bears mentioning that several other nations have signed on as third parties.

NATO members are all automatically included in the third party list, as are other close US allies such as South Korea. They have more restricted access to the NSA’s database, and they also lack other privileges.

Five Eye members are not allowed to spy on each others citizens. This privilege does not extend to third party signatories, thereby running the risk of their confidential secrets falling into the wrong hands. While the general assumption is that Five Eye nations don’t spy on each other, there is no way to prove this. After all, the NSA shouldn’t have been spying on American citizens either, but this did not stop them from trying to keep tabs on people that had not even committed a crime to begin with.

Apart from the Five Eyes alliance, there are a couple other intelligence networks that include the same five nations along with a few others. First and foremost, the Nine Eyes alliance widens the network to include non-English speaking nations whose goals and interests align with those of the US and its closest allies.

Denmark and Norway joined the Nine Eyes network from Scandinavia, with the Netherlands and France also joining from Central and Western Europe. One thing that bears mentioning is that the Nine Eyes alliance is not as official as the Five Eyes alliance. It comprises third party signatories that have certain exclusive privileges, so it is more of an unofficial agreement that does not possess any type of legal backing with all things having been considered and taken into account.

Now, there is another labyrinthine intelligence network that hardly anyone knows about, namely the 14 Eyes Alliance. One again, the Five Eyes and their formidable intelligence apparatus as at the heart of this alliance, as are the four nations that are included in the nine eyes, but five other major players are thrown into the mix as well.

Each and every one of the members of the additional five are from Europe, including Germany, Sweden, Belgium, Spain and Italy. This clearly shows that the Western powers of the world have extremely close ties, since only North American and European nations are official signatories in any capacity whatsoever.

In spite of the fact that this is the case, a few other nations that go beyond European borders are also seeing an increased level of prominence in global intelligence affairs. We have already mentioned South Korea’s inclusion as a third party, with other powerful East Asian nations such as Japan and Singapore also joining it in that regard. Israel is another unofficial member of this exclusive club, with the US frequently propping it up through the provision of military aid.

India and Thailand are also seeing quite a bit of prominence on this front. India is rapidly growing, and it may soon become the largest economy in Asia and perhaps even the entire world. It may be the sole nation that can compete with China for Asian dominance, so Western powers are attempting to bring it into the fold.

China has its own rival intelligence network that it has been building for quite some time now. The rising East Asian great power could potentially end up becoming a superpower on par with the US itself, and it has a range of regional powers that is relying on.

The name of China’s alliance is the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. It includes countries in the Russosphere such as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan as well as Russia itself, along with Pakistan which is notable considering it is a nuclear power. Interestingly, even India is a part of this alliance despite the inclusion of its greatest political rival. This makes India the only nation that is able to toe the line and not pick sides in the global war for domination.

While it might seem like these nations are collaborating in an entirely above board manner, this couldn’t be further from the truth. We only know about the informal 14 Eyes Coalition due to a leak, which just goes to show that governments would much prefer to keep these types of things under wraps.

So, what does this mean for the average consumer? Well, for starters, it means that we all need to start being a lot more careful about the manner in which our data is transferred and stored. Given how frequently these nations share data with each other, consumers must be informed about how they can protect themselves.

According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, these countries can easily bypass what they are referring to as the lowest common privacy denominator. Mass surveillance is at an all time high, and it is up to us to keep ourselves safe from prying eyes.

Many of these countries are trying to codify their attempts at mass surveillance. If any of this legislation ends up getting passed through the requisite legislative bodies, we may end up living in a society where no one would be able to keep a secret from the government.

There are several ways in which we can all keep intrusions at bay. First and foremost, it is imperative that we start encrypting all of our data. The single best way to go about doing that is by using some kind of a VPN.

A Virtual Private Network sends your data through various digital servers, thereby obscuring your footprint from anyone that may be trying to spy on you. Your internet service provider can monitor your online activities and share it with intelligence agencies if they present a warrant, but with a VPN, they would not have this data to begin with unless they procure it from the VPN provider.

Unfortunately, many VPNs are located in countries that are members of the Five Eyes network. While they might not necessarily give your data up, the countries that participate in this agreement are known for stopping at nothing to get what they need.

A far superior solution would be to use a VPN that is based in a nation that is not a signatory of any intelligence sharing agreements whatsoever. Now, with so many countries freely sharing intelligence, is there really a country out there that can stand out in any capacity?

ProtonVPN might be the answer, since its servers are housed in Switzerland which is famous for being the most privacy friendly country in the world. Switzerland has a long history of being neutral in all conflicts. That can be useful because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up keeping your data completely and utterly safe, no matter how powerful the nation demanding it currently happens to be.

The main benefit of Proton VPN is that it uses something called Perfect Forward Secrecy. This generates an entirely new key for your various browsing sessions, thereby making it so that your other sessions will be perfectly safe even if one of them end up being compromised to any extent whatsoever.

Apart from encrypting your data with a VPN, you should also consider using something similar for your emails. The Five Eyes alliance uses something called SIGINT which refers to the interception of transmissions between two points. It was used almost exclusively in warfare, but following the aftermath of the Cold War, it was more and more frequently used to spy on regular everyday citizens.

It stands to reason that your own emails are passing through their filters, but with Proton VPN, these emails will be encrypted. Even if they end up getting intercepted, the information contained within them would not be readable. Only you as well as the intended recipient would be able to read whatever it contains.

Some might also recommend that you use privacy conscious browsers. They don’t collect your data similar to Google Chrome and others, thereby giving you an added level of security that you would certainly be grateful for as the global surveillance network becomes ever more powerful.

ProtonVPN yet again offers something quite useful in this regard. Their email service uses a zero trust protocol, which is a level of encryption so advanced that even the company itself would not be able to crack it. On the off chance that an intelligence agency is successfully able to convince Proton Mail to hand over your data, they can simply state that they are unable to do that even if they wanted to.

This allows you to depend on technology rather than an institution and its ethics and morality. No matter how trustworthy a company seems, things like zero trust encryptions can ensure that your privacy will remain unassailable for the foreseeable future.

It would also be extremely useful for you to take a look at messaging apps that offer encryption. Signal and Telegram both stand out, although even something like WhatsApp might get the job done thanks to its end to end encryption.

The global agenda is turning mass surveillance into a foregone conclusion. Even if you don’t live in any of the countries that were mentioned in the Fourteen Eyes Alliance or the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, you might still find yourself under surveillance without any knowledge of what is going on.

The use of ProtonVPN, Proton Mail and other types of services in a similar vein could prove to be the last line of defense. The governments of the world clearly don’t care about their citizens, rather they only seem to care about furthering their own ambitions. A decentralized, encrypted future is the only way forward, at least for those that don’t want to be under the microscope at all times.

Country	Five Eyes	Nine Eyes	Fourteen Eyes	Other
United Kingdom	✓	✓	✓
United States	✓	✓	✓
Australia	✓	✓	✓
Canada	✓	✓	✓
New Zealand	✓	✓	✓
Denmark		✓	✓
Netherlands		✓	✓
France		✓	✓
Norway		✓	✓
Germany			✓
Belgium			✓
Spain			✓
Sweden			✓
Italy			✓
Israel				✓
Japan				✓
Singapore				✓
South Korea				✓

Read next: Which Global Airports Have The Fastest Wi-Fi Speeds? The Answer Might Surprise You
by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World