News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on AdBoost: A Browser Extension That Adds Ads To Every Webpage. Parent comment

Re:AdBoost: A Browser Extension That Adds Ads To Every Webpage by infecto on Monday February 02, 2026 @09:37AM (#46856534)
Wrong. There is no law saying you cannot click every link on a website within your browser. It would not only be impossible to prove but also entirely wrong interpretation of existing laws.

Now if you had an AdWords account and ran a botnet that visited your property and clicked ads, that’s fraud.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:AdBoost: A Browser Extension That Adds Ads To Every Webpage by pixl97 on Monday February 02, 2026 @10:30AM (#46857114)
>It would not only be impossible to prove

I mean if you had an extension that did it I don't see why it would be impossible. And with an extension for that purpose it shows intent.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:AdBoost: A Browser Extension That Adds Ads To Every Webpage by infecto on Monday February 02, 2026 @10:45AM (#46857279)
Back up a bit. AdNauseam and similar tools are not illegal. The only real avenues would be violation of ToS, fraud, computer abuse or similar. For an individual running this on their home PC for their own use it would be a real challenge for anyone of any size to prove harm.

Now like I already said, if you are running a botnet clicking on your ads that is entirely a different story.

So tell us what does having the extension installed prove?

[ Parent | on HN ]