>the AdNauseam (.io, browser extension) approach to pollute their tracking data might be inspirational. The gist is: can't eliminate ad links? Then have an app "click" all of them randomly so that counters become irrelevant. So there is this link that identifies user X?, well then write an extension that distributes and "clicks" it around on say 1000 other machines in a p2p way so that it becomes meaningless.
Except if you look at the documentation for AdNauseam, their fake click technique seems trivially filterable. The fake clicks are made as XHR requests, so all you have to do is look at the appropriate headers to filter them out. At best the only adtech companies that are getting fooled by this are upstarts that haven't added fraud detection yet.
https://github.com/dhowe/adnauseam/wiki/FAQ#how-does-adnause...
In Facebook has started to encrypt links to counter privacy-improving URL Strippingdhowe
AdNauseam
JavaScript2015–2026
dhowe / AdNauseam
AdNauseam
AdNauseam: Fight back against advertising surveillance
41Distinct people
44Mentions
0Explicit recommenders
6.8KGitHub stars
What to know before exploring
What it is
AdNauseam: Fight back against advertising surveillance
GitHub
Where it is used
No documented product use was verified in the last source check.
What people are saying
No recommendation phrase was found in the indexed comments.
No classified warning is attached to this page. Read the discussions before treating silence as approval.
Also in these discussions
No other repository is repeatedly linked in the same discussions.
This week on Hacker News
Nov 8–Nov 15 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/15/2026, 12:03:30 PM UTC.
No direct repository links were found in the indexed HN discussions over the past seven days. Older discussions are available below.
Mentions over time
HN mentions by year44 dated mentions
Observed mentions: 2015-11-22 21:44:57 UTC to 2026-05-07 19:22:57 UTC.
* An incomplete calendar period is marked with an outlined bar. Its count is not directly comparable with a full period.
Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.
View mention counts and date ranges
| Period | Start (UTC) | End (exclusive, UTC) | Mentions | Submissions | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 2015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 2016 | 2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 2017 | 2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 9 | 1 | 8 |
| 2018 | 2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 2019 | 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 5 | 1 | 4 |
| 2020 | 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 2021 | 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 4 | 1 | 3 |
| 2022 | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2023 | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 6 | 1 | 5 |
| 2024 | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| 2025 | 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| 2026 (partial) | 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2027-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 0 | 1 |
From the project README
An excerpt from the repository, fetched Nov 13, 2026.
Read the project’s introduction
It is not recommended to use AdNauseam at the same time as other similarly-purposed blockers
AdNauseam is a lightweight browser extension that blends software tool and artware intervention to actively fight back against tracking by advertising networks. AdNauseam works like an ad-blocker (it is built atop uBlock Origin) to silently simulate clicks on each blocked ad, confusing trackers as to one's real interests. At the same time, AdNauseam serves as a means of voicing your discontent with advertising networks that disregard privacy and engage in bulk surveillance.
In light of the industry's failure to address the excesses of network tracking, AdNauseam allows individual users to take matters into their own hands, offering active defense against surveillance, profiling and potential discrimination. The software thus represents a similar approach to that of TrackMeNot, relocating power in the hands of individual users, rather than vast commercial entities. For further information on this approach, please see this paper.
About the project
Web Site: https://adnauseam.io
Authors: Daniel C. Howe, Helen Nissenbaum and Mushon Zer-Aviv
Developers: Daniel C. Howe, Sally Chen and Alberto Harres
License: GPLv3 (see included LICENSE.txt file for full license)
Github Repo: https://github.com/dhowe/adnauseam/
Bug Tracker: https://github.com/dhowe/adnauseam/issues
FAQ: https://github.com/dhowe/adnauseam/wiki/FAQ
Can I contribute?
Absolutely! We are looking for coders, designers, and translators to help on the project.
If you are a coder or designer, just press Fork at the top of this github page and get started... Or, if you'd like to contribute a translation, please visit this page.
If you're not sure where to start, look at the issues labeled HELP US CODE. Thanks!
How to install the development environment
Fork and clone this repository:
$ git clone https://github.com/dhowe/AdNauseam.git
How to build the extension for various browsers
Or, support us with a monthly donation and become a backer!
And special thanks to our open-source support contributors!
Read the full README on GitHub