A single page load on a basic font-download site triggered all of this:

[tomasino@tilde.zone]

A single page load on a basic font-download site triggered all of this:

• 29 separate ad-tech and tracking companies, each making multiple calls
  
• Google’s entire ad stack (DoubleClick, AdServices, GStatic, GVT beacons, FundingChoices, anti-fraud checks)
  
• Amazon’s ad marketplace (aax.amazon-adsystem.com)
  
• Header-bidding networks like PubMatic, AppNexus/Xandr, Rubicon/Magnite, SmartAdServer, OneTag
  
• Fingerprinting and identity-sync systems including Dotomi, LiveIntent, OnAudience, Evolution.ai, BTLabs
  
• Cross-site device matchers (Bidswitch, DeepIntent, CPE Dotomi)
  
• Telemetry/redirector nodes like 4DEX, Infolinks, Erne, Bumlam
  
• Behavioral profiling engines (bttrack.com)
  
• Dozens of DNS lookups in parallel just to build a single ad frame
  
• A fragile multi-stage real-time auction, where every bidder must respond for the ad to render
  
• Repeated fallbacks and retries, because the chain breaks constantly
  
• Aggressive layout shifts, “expanding shelf” ads, and late-loading frames caused by auction timing
  
• No functional relevance to the site, just monetization layers stacked on a simple font page
  
• Silent third-party data exposure across global trackers and brokers
  
• Nearly 2,400 logged network events for a page that should need maybe 20

[tomasino@tilde.zone]

I should call out bad actors. In this case it was https://befonts.com/

[tomasino@tilde.zone]

I should also call out the good actors. Enabling private DNS with quad9 completely removed the issue.

Quad9 isn’t an ad blocker, but it is a security DNS. It quietly drops or refuses to resolve a bunch of shady ad-tech, tracking, and fingerprinting domains. On sites that rely on huge real-time ad auctions, breaking even a few of those domains makes the entire ad unit fail to load. So the page looks “clean,” not because Quad9 blocks ads, but because the ad supply chain collapses when the bad actors can’t resolve.

I think it's extra cool that a company doing a few correct things can undermine so much shit almost accidentally. Kudos to that team.