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Advertisements Slowing Web Access

Posted on 15th October August 2015

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This BBC story highlights a growing problem with web access, especially from mobile devices, and puts the spotlight on the implicit deal that we all make in order to get "free" service from many web-based services.

We have all experienced how frustrating it is trying to access web-sites, with all the advertisements vying for your attention. As the BBC report describes, sometimes ads block the content you want to view; sometimes the control to dismiss an ad doesn't work, or is hard to find; the time to load pages is increased by the time needed to load the ads (especially as the ad servers are often very slow); but also, very importantly, the ads are using up our (sometimes very expensive, e.g. when roaming) bandwidth.

The deal that we have, by default, agreed to is that, in exchange for a free service (whether it is the use of Facebook, a news service, messaging, or whatever) we have agreed to receive ads. If you check a site's Terms and Conditions, it will usually say "By using this site, you agree ....". So I can understand why the providers of free services don't want us using their service when we have ad-blockers installed.

Well, here are my Terms and Conditions:

  • The ads must not stop the service working. This means no pop-ups which block the content I am trying to view, and should not reduce the screen real-estate of my device to unusable amounts.
  • The data overhead of downloading the ads should be limited. I would suggest no more than 50% of the total bandwidth be used for ads.
  • The ads must not prevent me from being socially responsible when using the web in public places. This means that videos should not play unless I click them, or at least not auto-play with sound.

These Ts & Cs should hold true for all devices that I use.

I suspect that web-service providers and advertisers cannot all be trusted to stick to such rules, so I think the answer is regulation. The problem, of course, is that the Internet is international, and no one jurisdiction is able to regulate it, but I think this problem has to be able to be solved (in the same way as for the less socially acceptable types of porn, and for money-making scams).