Ad-Blocker Ghostery Just Went Open Source--And Has a New Business Model

In privacy-focused, anti-establishment corners of the internet, going open source can earn you a certain amount of street cred. It signals that you not only have nothing to hide, but also welcome the rest of the world to help make your project better. For Ghostery though, the company that makes Edward Snowden's recommended ad blocker, publishing all its code on GitHub Thursday also means clearing up some confusion about its past. Before Ghostery was acquired last year by Cliqz, a privacy-focused web browser, the company's revenue scheme invited some skepticism. Ghostery made money when users opted-in to share data about what kinds of ad trackers they encountered across on the web.