I use a Chrome extension called Disconnect which doesn’t do any ad-blocking at all. What it does do is to block cookies used by trackers. Apparently, that’s enough to trigger the “it looks like you are using an ad blocker” message from Wired and a few other sites.

It’s possible that this is just sloppy coding on the part of whoever writes the check-for-adblocker code. But it’s also possible that advertising networks are more interested in watching what we’re doing than in making sure we’re seeing the ads. Trying to evade surveillance may be the real unpardonable crime in their eyes.