Most adtech is RTB (real-time bidding) where ad slots are auctioned off and filled as you load the page. SO (and publishers) have no real control over the ad payload that comes back. There has been progress to use sandboxed iframes but there's still JS running inside those placements.<p>The JS won't be going away, it's part of a long supply chain of data, verification, viewability, anti-fraud and other layers baked in. For those saying publishers should do 1st party ads, that would lose them most of their income due to operational and sales overhead and doesn't really prevent everything anyway because they still have to accept the ads advertisers want to run, including the JS from vendors.<p>However the situation is slowly improving. Adtech has weathered through adblocking, native ads, anti-tracking tech but has failed to police itself because of a lack of consequences. Now there's finally regulatory pressure with GDPR, CCPA, and more that will finally force a change from the outside. I expect many of these issues to be greatly reduced within the next 1-3 years.