Polluting Indicators
AppEsteem has developed a set of polluting indicators for advertising networks and websites, in the hopes that it will drive them to produce less internet pollution, resulting in better consumer web browsing experiences. This blog article may help you map these polluting indicators into a useful framework.
We derived these polluting indicators starting with our advertising-related App Certification requirements, then by examining the policies of reputable ad networks, and finally by consulting with representatives from both the antimalware and the software monetization industry.
We consider advertising networks and websites that exhibit these polluting indicators as polluting. We recommend that our partners hide or block any ad served up by polluting ad networks and websites: all ads (regardless of ad network) shown on polluting websites, and all ads (regardless of website) from polluting ad networks. We produce our own browser extensions (under the brands Browse.live and Blur.live) that also hide and/or block ads served up by polluting ad networks and websites. We want ad networks and websites to avoid any polluting indicators so consumers can have better web browsing experiences.
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(AP-1) Ads interrupt consumption of content.
Intent: Consumers should be able to consume content without unplanned interruption.
Prescriptive Advice: Don't display ads that pop in front of content, display over content, or prevent the ability to consume content without interacting with or waiting for the ad.
(AP-2) Ads masquerade as content or notifications.
Intent: Consumers should be able to easily and instantly differentiate, without any prior knowledge or close examination, between the website content and any ads that pay to be shown.
Prescriptive Advice: Make sure ads look significantly different than website content.
(AP-3) Ads distract or annoy with motion or sound.
Intent: The website content, not its advertising, should draw the consumer's attention.
Prescriptive Advice: Serve ads that rely on images and words, not motion and sound, to grab the consumer's attention.
(AP-4) Ads automatically display elsewhere in new tabs or windows.
Intent: Without explicit user action, a website browsing experience should remain in a single tab.
Prescriptive Advice: Don't serve ads in separate windows or tabs from the website being consumed.
(AP-7) Ads masquerade as calls to action or other website functions.
Intent: Consumers should be able to easily and instantly differentiate, without any prior knowledge or close examination, between ads and any website actions.
Prescriptive Advice: Make sure ads look significantly different than website actions.
(AP-8) Ads are user-personalized without first obtaining informed, explicit, separate user consent
Intent: Consumers should knowingly opt in to (not opt out of) scenarios where their information will be used to personalize ads.
Prescriptive Advice: Unless you have obtained informed, explicit user consent to personalize ads (neither combined with other acceptances nor buried in a privacy policy), do not target consumers or use consumer information or behavior to determine which ads to show.
(AP-9) User-personalized ads cannot be fairly turned off or disabled.
Intent: Consumers should be able to disable ads that are personalized from their information in a simple and straightforward manner, no harder than it was to enable, without having to give up other browser protections or privacy to do so.
Prescriptive Advice: Provide an easily accessible, low-click mechanism to disable user-personalized ads. Require only the same environment for enabling and disabling ad personalization (e.g., don't require third-party cookies to disable if you can personalize without them). Don't entice users to keep user personalization enabled. Don't scare, withhold services, or penalize those who disable ad personalization.
(AP-10) Collected non-public consumer-linkable data is sold to, or used to monetize or enhance services to, third parties.
Intent: Consumers expect that any data that can be linked to them is only being used to enhance their experience directly with the party who collected it, not to monetize or offer services to others.
Prescriptive Advice: Only use the linkable data that consumers let you collect in ways that make your own consumer-direct services better. Do not provide options for advertisers to target their ads based on this data. Do not sell or otherwise provide the collected consumer-linkable data to others. Do not use this data to offer services to anyone other than the consumer you collected it from.
(AP-5) Site overwhelms content with ads.
Intent: Consumers should be able to easily consume website content, without excessive scrolling or clicking around a forest of ads.
Prescriptive Advice: Make sure your website's content, not its ads, makes up the vast majority of the browser real estate.
(AP-6) Site tricks consumers with ad placement or timing.
Intent: Consumers should not be tricked into clicking on ads, or be required to view or wait for an ad that interrupts consumption of content.
Prescriptive Advice: Don't design your website to pop up ads after content consumption begins. Don’t put timers on ads or require ad viewing to get to the content. Don't put ads close to your CTA if you know that the ad content will trick the user.
(AP-11) Site allows third parties to collect and/or use non-public consumer-linkable data for services unrelated to the direct consumer experiences of that site.
Intent: Consumers expect any site that collects data that can be linked to them will restrict that data's use to their direct experiences on that site, and the site won't sell, trade, give, or make it available elsewhere.
Prescriptive Advice: Limit third party collection and use of consumer-linkable data to the consumer-direct services of your site. Do not allow third parties to place any data-collecting pixels, frame, cookies, scripts, or any other means of collecting consumer-linkable data.