The generic nuclear option to hide terrible web design, bypass (some) paywalls, and improve performance 1000x is to disable javascript. ublock and adnauseam both have a button to disable all javascript on a page, which is handy when reading articles on sites filled with garbage.
Every scrap of data collected about you will be used against you. It doesn't matter if it's accurate or not, nobody cares if they data they have about you is accurate, data brokers will happily sell your personal info to anyone even knowing full well that it's got inaccurate and conflicting info in it. Many won't even know because the process is entirely automated.
By automatically clicking on ads and "expressing interest" in random things you're just filling your dossier with ammo which gets handed to others to fire at you. Every random thing you add to your permanent record is one more thing that can only hurt you.
You cannot know what will prejudice someone against you. Maybe one day adnauseam decides to click on something that gets you flagged as having a certain political view, or having a certain sexual orientation, or being an alcoholic, or having a mental illness, or being at a certain income level, or belonging to a certain religion, etc. One day that exact data can cause you to get turned down for a job, or for housing. It can mean that a website charges you more than what your neighbor pays for the same product. It can mean your insurance rates go up next year.
You will never be told when it happens or why. Your health insurance company isn't going to tell you that they raised your rates because you (adnauseam) clicked on too many fast food ads last quarter. You're just suddenly getting a higher bill. Your auto insurance company won't tell you that they raised your rates after you were clicking ads for DUI lawyers, but suddenly they and every other insurance provider you try are quoting you higher monthly prices.
If your browser extension decides to go click on ads about abortions you could even end up being hauled into a texas courtroom and having to defend against charges. Sure, you'd get them thrown out eventually. Probably. But it would still cost you a ton of time and money and stress. The information in your dossier can get you targeted, harassed, or attacked by extremists. It can get be used against you in court rooms. It can get you investigated by three letter agencies. It can be used to impact your 'secret consumer score' or consumer trustworthiness rating.
The information being collected about you is sold to companies, employers, activists, extremists, and law enforcement. That data never goes away. It follows you for the rest of your life and will be used against you in ways you'll never be aware of and cannot today imagine. Filling your dossier with huge amounts of content (random or not) is dangerous and only increases your risk for zero benefit.
I don’t care if I get wrongly labeled/categorized due to this. It’s not like my profile was an accurate representation of who I am before I turned on ad nauseam. If someone gets dragged into a court room for clicking ads, that would be funny, and I doubt they would have a hard time finding support from orgs like the EFF, gofundme, etc.
One long term benefit of this is that if a lot of people use it, advertisers will start seeing diminishing returns on their investment in internet ads. This will lead to reduced spending and less ads overall.
adnauseam does not do this. It only adds to your personal information. It doesn't hide anything.
> I don’t care if I get wrongly labeled/categorized due to this.
Then you must not care when you suffer the consequences of having been wrongly labeled/categorized. Nobody can make you care about yourself, your money, your safety, or your time if you refuse to.
> It’s not like my profile was an accurate representation of who I am before I turned on ad nauseam.
Again, nobody cares about how accurate it is or not. It's about quantity, not quality. Accurate or not, that data will increasingly impact your life in very real ways. The more data they have, the worse it will be for you.
> One long term benefit of this is that if a lot of people use it, advertisers will start seeing diminishing returns on their investment in internet ads.
this isn't actually true, because advertisers don't care. That's why the world is still and increasingly filled with ads that aren't laser focused on you as an individual. We have more and more ads on network TV, on billboards, on radio etc. None of them were stopped because they sometimes showed an ad to someone who doesn't care about it. Seriously, they don't care. You clicked, that's good enough for them. Sales aren't even always the goal. Being seen (or the appearance of being seen) is often all they need.
You're honestly only hurting yourself.