The legal fight may be over Web browser add-ons that let people avoid advertisements. These add-ons are growing in functionality and popularity, which has led legal experts surveyed this week by CNET News.com to speculate about when the first lawsuit will be filed.
If ad-blockers become so common that they slice away at publishers’ revenues, “I absolutely would expect to see litigation in this area,” said John Palfrey, executive director of Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society.
Firefox’s Adblock plug-in is probably the most prominent way to configure Web browsers not to display advertisements. It lets people block ads from individual Web sites such as Doubleclick.net or through configurable directories, like “/banner”. Similar plug-ins are available for Opera, Safari and Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.
Mike Zaneis states “People are free to ignore ads, and they often do that, but when you have a third party blocking those ads, that’s the real problem.”
No, the problem is for people who are still on dial-up who are getting slowed down further because of all the ads.
The problem is with folks who might not understand entirely how the internet works. I’ve heard stories of marriages actually nearing a split because of adult pop-up ads that were displayed on the family computer. One spouse thought the other had been on similar sites thereby causing the flood of adult themed pop up ads.
The problem is my son getting on the computer to research a homework assignment and being exposed to ads that are not for a childs’ eyes.
I like the fact that I can control what my children are exposed to. I’m probably like most consumers in that I will NOT purchase or join a service that has ‘in your face’ advertising. I hate pressure sales tactics and that’s exactly what pop up ads are.
What are your thoughts on ad blocking? What measures do you take, if any to avoid them?
Tags: marketing, pop up ads, ad blocking, internet lawsuits, doubleclick, firefox ad-on
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
I think that is pretty funny. I read most blogs through my feed reader and never see any ads anyway…without any adblocking at all.
If Ad blocking gets too popular, people will find new ways to monetize blogs. Maybe paid subscriptions for premium content or selling actual real products instead of just advertising for anybody willing to pay for a click.
And maybe if adblocking became much more the default, then a lot of the splogs and content stealers would disappear.
I have pop-up blockers and never see them. I can’t stand them.
I don’t like ads that slow down my browsing like pop-ups. It’s makes it hard to get things done and most of those kind of ads are the ones that would get my husband in trouble if I caught him looking at!
I don’t see why this should be a legal issue honestly. Isn’t a pop-up blocker the internet equivalent of the “do not call list”?
I for one hate pop-ups. I don’t mind ads within a site or blog.. I can choose to ignore them if they don’t interest me. Pop-Ups? I’m more likely to avoid the company advertising in that pop-up than click and buy.
Exactly. We own the browser that accesses it, they make it publicly available. We have a right to pick and choose what of their content we want.
I also am against those intrusive Pop Ads. And i believe that’s why Text Link Ads are doing so good, as the blend a lot more with the content and deliver only contextual ads.
Also, in this Web 2.0 era, there’s always the RSS reader that allows you to read what you want without having to see any ads. But remember, bloggers have to live too