Episode
How Ad Blockers Work, Why They Break, and the Future of Private Search (JP Schmetz Interview)
- Podcast
- Techlore Talks
- Published
- Feb 28, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 5229
- Processing state
not_requested- Canonical source
- https://share.transistor.fm/s/059862c9
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Summary
Most ad blockers start by blocking everything—then you become tech support for friends & family when pages break. Henry interviewed JP Schmetz, founder of Brave Search and CEO of Ghostery, about making trackers visible, why there are only 3 search indexes in the world, reinventing the open web with AI, and how to avoid becoming "the family CTO." 🔗 SOURCES & LINKS • Ghostery: https://www.ghostery.com/ • Who Tracks Me Database: https://whotracks.me/ • Ghostery Private Search: https://www.ghostery.com/private-search • Brave Search: https://search.brave.com/ ⏱️ TIMESTAMPS 00:00:00 INTRO 00:01:32 ORIGINS WITH GHOSTERY 00:03:15 SEARCH ENGINES + BROWSERS 00:06:32 GHOSTERY'S BROWSER EXTENSION 00:09:09 THE PRIVACY DISCONNECT 00:13:02 REAL WORLD IMPACTS 00:16:03 PRIVACY VARIES BY LOCATION 00:16:47 PAGE BLOCKING + BREAKING 00:24:06 ADAPTATION + TRUST 00:28:48 ROLES AT GHOSTERY + BRAVE 00:29:22 OPEN SOURCE 00:30:38 BRAVE SHIELDS OR GHOSTERY? 00:32:36 SUGGESTED CONFIGURATIONS 00:40:13 WHOTRACKS.ME 00:44:30 WHAT IS A TRACKER? 00:47:39 WHAT ARE THE INCENTIVES? 00:50:31 DOES BLOCKING = NO DATA SHARING? 00:53:50 THE INVESTIGATIVE PROCESS 00:57:27 PRIVATE SEARCH 01:00:11 META SEARCH VS. INDEPENDENT INDEX 01:02:30 CONTEXTUAL VS. TARGETED ADVERTISING 01:06:28 BRAVE SEARCH ADS 01:08:16 INDEXES 01:10:53 AI + SEARCH 01:19:43 WHAT'S NEXT? 01:22:22 PUBLISHING + INCENTIVES + THE FUTURE 01:25:30 HOW TO FOLLOW 🎥 VIDEO Watch on YouTube 🧡 SUPPORT TECHLORE Keep Techlore Talks independent & growing: ★ Support this podcast ★