The Mousetrap


The Mousetrap

Twenty-five to 30 billion ads bombard weary Web surfers each week, and the future looks grim. Research firm GartnerG2 projects that online advertising will more than double by 2005. It isn't a black-and-white issue, either. Even those who detest pop-up banners concede that Web advertising helps finance the Internet. But with each new generation of technology, online ads grow more intrusive and deceptive. Today's ads either pose as something they're not, contain noncommercial content, or bombard us with pyrotechnic excess. Here's what Web surfers face:

  • Standard banner ads stay inside the primary browser window.

  • Pop-up and pop-under ads appear in new browser windows that are stripped of toolbars and menus .

  • Interstitial ads appear after you click a link but before you see the next page.

  • Transitional ads pop up in a separate window between two pages.

  • Superstitial ads move across a Web page like a projected animation.

A new variety of pop-up ads mimic a dialog box. Web surfers are tricked into clicking the OK button to dismiss a system message, only to be drawn into an abyss of new pop-up ads. Most invasive of all is the so-called mousetrap. It breaks your browser's Back button, disables the Close box, and replicates new windows faster than you can close them! The sleazy underbelly of the Internet is rife with spawning technology. You can encounter it anywhere , but avoiding porn sites, gambling sites, warez sites, and spam links will limit your exposure.

Why do advertisers employ invasive technology? Because it works! Unfortunately, the most intrusive ads grab the customers' attention (just like in conventional advertising). In reality, the Web sites and advertisers that employ invasive technology are rewarded for using these techniques. You can block most ads by disabling graphics, Java, JavaScript, and Flash in your Web browser, but that's like throwing the baby out with the bath water! In the process, your whole interactive Web experience would go down the drain. That's why ad-blocking programs such as AdSubtract, AdBlocker, and Web-Washer have become so pop-up-ular (pardon the pun) of late. As recently as 2001, analysts found that three- quarters of the Web surfers surveyed didn't even know what ad-blocking software was.




Invasion of Privacy. Big Brother and the Company Hackers
Invasion of Privacy! Big Brother and the Company Hackers
ISBN: 1592000436
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2004
Pages: 135
Authors: Michael Weber

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