Web users 'must endure' pop-up ads

Guardian ^ | 09/08/03 | Owen Gibson

[Pikamax]

Web users 'must endure' pop-up ads

Owen Gibson Monday September 8, 2003

Internet users will continue to be plagued by unwanted pop-up adverts after a US judge ruled websites can do nothing to prevent companies placing ads on

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their pages without permission. "Alas, we computer users must endure pop-up advertising," district judge Gerald Bruce Lee ruled in a US court in Virginia.

While this ruling applies only to America, other US-based web judgments have tended to set a precedent on this side of the Atlantic.

The decision is a blow to the owners of websites that have been plagued by rogue advertising.

Over the past two years online publishers have filed more than a dozen lawsuits against internet advertising firms Gator Corporation and WhenU.com.

The companies operate by offering web surfers free software or downloads, such as video players or screen savers, that come with ad serving programmes attached.

Once downloaded they will then be shown pop-up adverts independent of the website they are visiting.

While many of the online publishers complaining about Gator and WhenU.com also deliver pop-up ads to their users, they argue they can limit the number of times they are shown and ensure the adverts are suitable for their audience.

Dotcoms are also concerned the pop-ups offered by companies such as Gator may advertise products and websites that rival their own.

"Computer users, like this trial judge, may wonder what we have done to warrant the punishment of seizure of our computer screens by pop-up advertisements for secret web cameras, insurance, travel values and fad diets," Mr Lee said.

However, he ruled that, while annoying, the adverts did not break any trademark or copyrights laws and consumers had generally agreed to download the ad serving software.

"Ultimately it is the computer user who controls the windows displayed on the computer desktop," he said.

However, many users complain is often far from obvious that they are agreeing to install the "spyware" software on their computers and that, once installed, it is difficult to remove.

The suit was brought by removal company U-Haul International, which said it was considering an appeal.

Last year Gator reached an out of court settlement with a dozen media companies, including the Washington Post and Dow Jones, over similar complaints.

Gator also faces outstanding suits from other online publishers.

[=Intervention=]

Moz is freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee....

Check it out...

Mozilla

[TomServo]

How much does Mozilla cost?

$0.00

[South40]

Windows users can avoid pop-ups by downloading a FREE version of Pop-up Stopper.

[CaptRon]

It really does. Haven't seen a pop-up since I downloaded the toolbar.

[SeaDragon]

"Alas, we computer users must endure pop-up advertising," district judge Gerald Bruce Lee ruled in a US court in Virginia.

Not if you are a Mac user and run Apple's Safari.

:-)

[thoughtomator]

Yeah I guess being proactive and volunteering to do computer setup for friends and family reduces one's workload in the long run. I'm such a procrastinator, I get to deal with the machines AFTER they've already become a crisis. Bah!

[BibChr]

Not if you use www.avantbrowser.com.

It's the best, as far as I've seen. No popups. Free.

Dan

[snarkpup]

IE for various flavors of Mac OS has a preference for turning off scripting which also completely defeats pop ups.

IE for Windows does not have any such option.

Every version of IE for Windows I have seen does have this option. It's in Tools/Internet Options/Security/Custom Level.

[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

Bump for future reference.

[Astronaut]

OmniWeb 4.5 for Mac OS X also blocks popups, as does Safari. I think the only Macintosh browser that doesn't is Internet Exploder. Glad there is lots of browser competition for the Macintosh so I dont have to use Microsoft's inferior product.

[Poser]

I use Popup Protector. It wasn't free, but it works great. If I want a popup, I simply hold the ctrl key down.

[mrsmith]

"There are browsers that kill them - like... "

...Internet Explorer!

People can stop pop-ups by turning off the java controls in IE. I do.

[TomServo]

Not if you use www.avantbrowser.com.

Using it right now. Great little browser.

[Ronin]

I like my Avant Browser. It kills pop-ups 95 percent of the time. I use Ad-aware to flush out the spybots and thanks to the recent MSBlaster scare, my firewall is nice and tight.

[JerseyHighlander]

Is Firebird significantly better then my Mozilla 1.5a build from May/June?

[EagleMamaMT]

Read later.

[BibChr]

You bet!

At work, I used IE extensively -- but it was a memory hog, and not stable. I had previously used the 7.x version of Avant, but it had that problem of the CPU maxing out at 60-100%, even when idle.

Now that problem's resolved, and I'm a happy man!

Well, in that way, anyway!

Dan

[JerseyHighlander]

\I answered my own question,

Most Extensible

Mozilla Firebird is easily extended
Mozilla Firebird's user interface can be extended by developers using industry standards such as XML, CSS, JavaScript etc, as well as complex C++ add on modules. Examples of such extensions include everything from relatively simple utilities to advanced tools such as a JavaScript Debugger and Document Inspector. A full list of existing extensions is available here. Extensions are easily installed.

That's why Mozilla Firebird has the best search functions of any browser. Ctrl+K takes you to the Google bar.

Both were limitations in my build.