No. That's not how you make porridge!

Discontinued Products News / Announcements / Feedback - PrivDog
1

Useless, weak & potentially dangerous product/concept

[i]No ads at all when browsing - that is the point

[/i]Damaging/Killing “eco-system” is simply wrong statement

Create your own site with all ads possible (and “protected” by you), advertise it, earn a lot of money because of that & be happy.
Those who like ads will read them/that website all day long …

… sure soon we’ll have a branch here with topic like " Submit digitally signed malware" (read) - trusted ad web site :wink:

Anyway, my opinion is: No way I would ever use that, trust that & I will discourage all my clients in the 1st place and my friends from even consider that

Well, at least we have a choice - not installing PrivDog so called “innovation” :-TD :-TD :-TD.

Regards

2

I don’t really understand what you’re trying to say. What’s bad about PrivDog? It might just be too early for me but can you explain some more?

3

hi

Indeed, further explanation would be appreciated.

PrivDog is about empowering end users with management tools to manage the threat vectors presented in ads.

Ads are files…no different than antivirus products looking/managing files…

with PrivDog: you can block all ads…or allow ads (but only sanitized ads. sanitized in our infrastructure).
with PrivDog: when you surf the web, you are not without knowing connecting to unknown servers (3rd party ad servers).

anyway, we are here for an open and honest discussion. Please raise your concerns with more details so that everyone can hear and contribute.

thank you

Melih

4

I would also like to know why such negativity on such a new product that looks promising?

Thanks.

5

Just adding my two pence here.

PrivDog does have the option to block all ads so if you don’t even want the trusted ads you can simply untick the box. I don’t see what all the fuss is about. It protects you in a unique way and doesn’t track your online activity.

I love it anyway. I’d like to see it also deal with those background pop up windows.

Eric

6

Hey Siber,

I think the concept of PrivDog has merit. I’d like to see how they are going to make it be sufficiently encompassing to satisfy all legitimate advertisers. That’s my main concern, ATM.

[color=brown][i]No ads at all when browsing - that is the point
Commercial TV and newspapers must give you the willies. ;) Advertising, for good or bad, is the financial lifeblood of information flow (regardless of whether it's the internet, print, TV or radio). Without ads, there would be a far, far diminshed revenue pool to maintain/enhance/expand the information flow. Media companies are not going to do more just because the're nice blokes ('cause they're not).
Damaging/Killing "eco-system" is simply wrong statement
Maybe a bit extreme but blocking all ads must reduce the revenue stream (for both legitimate and not-so-legitimate advertisers) and while it may not reduce the incentive to innovate, lack of funds certainly reduces the capability to do so.
Create your own site with all ads possible (and "protected" by you), advertise it, earn a lot of money because of that & be happy. Those who like ads will read them/that website all day long ...
It's called MySpace. :D (Only kidding)
Anyway, my opinion is: No way I would ever use that, trust that & I will discourage all my clients in the 1st place and my friends from even consider that
My opinion is "Not yet", as opposed to "No way". I'd like to hear more about the backend and how securely it will vet ads and the companies behind them.

Cheers,
Ewen :slight_smile:

7

To me PrivDog basically seems like just another ad-blocker, but with a twist and with a slightly strange name. If I understand this correctly, PrivDog offers to replace a site’s ads with their own hopefully safer ads.

Personally, I don’t see how PrivDog offers any benefit over my setup. I run AdBlock Plus on most sites, except those I trust and support. If I thought their ads were unsafe, I wouldn’t disable ABP. This method allows the sites I like to still get their revenue without going through the hassle of getting their ads approved and run by PrivDog.

PrivDog just seems unnecessary and a bit suspicious, especially if they gain money from the ads they display as replacements.

8

they key is you connecting to 3rd party unvetted servers. with adblock plus allows you to connect to these sites…yes you want to allow the website you trust to make money…but the ad that is shown on that site you trust comes from 3rd party server that noone has vetted, putting you at risk…also this slows down your internet…you are waiting for that 3rd party server to load their ads…

with Privdog…you get the full benefit of adblocker, performance and security…our users are never allowed to connect to 3rd party advertising servers…all the ads they see are vetted, safe.

publishers make money…

win win for everyone…

whats the point of being an adblocker and allowing some ads? You are “half an adblocker”…doesn’t solve the problem…
Privdog solves the problem in an ingenious way for both the users and publishers.

9

The problem is almost none of the sites I want to get revenue from ads actually use PrivDog, so PrivDog doesn’t offer additional benefits to me over just blocking everything with Adblock Plus.

The point is for some sites to still get money from me…if they don’t have huge ugly ads. :slight_smile:

10

I believe sites can create a free account with PrivDog, and get the ad revenue.

11

And how do they find out there is some plugin replacing the ads on their web and they need to create an account somewhere to get revenue from the “safe” ads?

12

That I’m not entirely sure about. Hopefully the staff can provide more information about that.

13

I think we all need to spread the word.

14

we are thinking about reaching out to sites…early days, but we are planning…

15

Privdog also blocks various trackers like Ghostery also does. Unless I am mistaken doesn’t ABP block tracker sites.

16

PrivDog is a Privacy tool…

Antivirus or a Privacy Tool…they both handle files and threats/vulnerabilities…files of different types…antivirus handles all kind of executable files…
privacy tools handle Ads, cookies, trackers etc…its all about empowering the user with a management platform.

If an adblocker was antivirus, then its method of protection would be to delete (block) all the executable files. this wouldn’t be acceptable…Its pretty easy to code an ad blocker…(really…)

When I was designing the privacy tool (PrivDog) we had to design a tool that didn’t block it all (noone wants an antivirus that deletes all executables…).

The problem with this was, we didn’t control the ads…and being able to dynamically search for vulnerability in the ads before they reach the user was an unacceptable overhead.

So we had to serve the ads to be sure that what the user was geting was
1)safe
2)Compliant (comlpliant with rules/regulations as well as ethical)
3)had good performance metrics…(noone wants to go to a site and see a flash ad that started eating 70% of their CPU…yep…you would be amazed to see how many of these ads are out there being served to unsuspected victims).

This changed the game for us…this project become a whole lot bigger…we now had to build an ad serving platform and put processes in place for ad validation etc…HUGE project…

Of course there was also an opportunity…we could, just like Google, make money from ads too…so now we had a way of sustaining this project! We could empower our users with privacy tool and protect them without hurting the publishers/websites from making money by showing ads…

So its a win-win for everyone.

Our difference is…the DNA of what we do is about protecting the user…unlike other advertising companies who exist to make money from ads…we exist to protect our users…and if we can make money while we are protecting them…all the better…but User Protection is first! Always!

Anyway…this was a bit of history…going forward…PrivDog is your Privacy Dog…it will bark at sites who are trying to jeopardize your privacy…it will ■■■ on the companies who mess with your personal privacy…There are so many areas of vulnerabilities that exist for Privacy and these vulnerabilities are emanating mainly from companies who make money from advertising…it is counter intuitive to expect them to protect you…that’s where PrivDog comes in…Our DNA is protecting you…Because advertising companies, from Facebook to Google doesn’t protect you, PrivDog will arm you with everything you need and fight them all the way! PrivDog is your Privacy Platform…You will control your own privacy…

There are so much more thats coming soon with PrivDog in areas you didn’t even realise you were vulnerable.

PrivDog is your ultimate Privacy Tool.

17

It all depends on your filter subscriptions. Filtersets like EasyPrivacy block trackers.

18

Thanks. :slight_smile: Note to self: could have figured out this one myself… :wink:

It is deeply rooted in your and Comodo’s ethics to empower the users to take control over their online security.

What I like about Privdog is that it is subverting the dominant advertising paradigm by empowering the users while at the same it tries to redefine the paradigm by creating an alternative more benign advertising environment.

There are so much more thats coming soon with PrivDog in areas you didn't even realise you were vulnerable.

PrivDog is your ultimate Privacy Tool.

Needless to say I am very much looking forward to see what more Privdog has in store in the future…

19

That is a perfect explanation of what PrivDog is bringing to the table, excellent description!