It is. It’s very easy to generate big money with ad replacement or proxies.
It is. It’s very easy to generate big money with ad replacement or proxies.
During interview it became clear that their "product" was actually bundled malware that replaced google's and other ads in the browser. Evidently hot founder guy was using this startup as cash cow for his other ventures.
There was some noise in the press about it a couple years later and founder guy defended himself saying he sold the company and wasn't responsible, except it was already malware when I interviewed and he was still owner so I know it's bullshit.
This seems like a fairly benign monetization scheme, it’ll hurt some sites that depend on ad revenue but not any more than adblockers.
Monetization is the process of converting user value into money. If you don't provide any value it's not monetization it's just mining.