The Drum: Adland goes Dark (web)

The Article "Adland goes dark (web)" is a short but sweet interview with me about ad banners, Tor, trackers and all the other fun stuff that has nestled into every device you have. (archive link). Here's some choice bits from the interview. 

Founded twenty years ago, (“Adland’s almost old enough to buy himself a drink”) and one of the top destinations for Super Bowl creative, Wäppling made the decision to put a version on Tor from some practical data after Apple iOS made ad blocking available on mobile phones and tablets.

“As soon as that happened, ad blocking went up from ten percent to sixty five percent on Adland,” said Wäppling. “And it’s not just the fact that I attract a different crowd — a gamer crowd that’s more technical — it’s because the industry creative Apple fan boys have easy access to ad blockers, and they’re using them.”

Seeing the uptick in ad blocking made Wäppling understand that issues around privacy had become more acute.

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A long time user of Tor, the decision to add a version of the site was on Wäppling’s mind for a long time, but moving forward was sparked through a Twitter interaction on whether or not the dark web was responsive design and some nudging from a colleague.

“(A colleague) dared me to do it. I did it in under ten minutes. Boom. There it was. And I decided to announce it.”

Shortly after the announcement on LinkedIn, Wäppling realized that she had entered the dark web only hours after the independent, nonprofit investigative journalism site, ProPublica.

"Seeing that ProPublica did the same just hours earlier shows that the time is ripe for more news publications to enter the dark web,” said Wäppling. “I wouldn't be surprised if this became a trend, but you're not likely to find the CNN's or BBC's on the dark web anytime soon."