The Allure of an Ad-Free Internet

After 36 hours as the No. 1 paid app in the App store, the programmer Marco Arment is pulling his ad-blocker, Peace, from the market. “Even though I’m ‘winning,’ I’ve enjoyed none of it,” Arment wrote. “That’s why I’m withdrawing from the market. It’s simply not worth it.” Ad blockers are controversial for good reason.

To the person scrolling or clicking through a website, online advertising can feel like trip wire designed to trick you into clicking. Depending on the strength of one’s Wi-Fi connection and the reserve of one’s patience, navigating this ad-speckled landscape can be tolerable or aggravating. On mobile devices, where mere scrolling can trigger the unwanted click of an ad, the experience can be rage-inducing. So it’s understandable that ad-blocking apps seem to be gaining popularity now that iOS9, Apple’s latest operating system, enables such software. In the short term, ad blockers will make web pages cleaner, faster, and more mobile-friendly. “I still believe that ad blockers are necessary today,” Arment wrote. Maybe so. But they won’t be a lasting buffer against advertising. Depending on what they target, ad blockers encourage a more pervasive form of advertising -- a kind that’s harder to avoid, harder to identify, and impossible to shut out.