Ad Blocking software
In the past several months, ad blocking software has become very prevalent. Under the premise of “user choice”, software that now comes installed by default on many computers, actually modifies the content of web pages based on some very rudimentary and aggressive rules. Software like Norton Internet Security comes installed for free on a very large number of computers. Even worse, the software is configured to automatically block advertising content.
How does Ad Blocking work?
Norton Internet Security works at a layer lower than regular software programs like web browsers and filters all Internet information that is sent to your computer. If it identifies any URLs that contain text matching their keyword list (containing words like “/ad”, and “468_60″), it will rewrite the content so those elements are removed. See this page for a Norton Adblocking Demonstration.
What’s wrong with Ad Blocking?
It’s one thing if the user wants their computer to operate this way (and even that is questionable) and it’s quite another if the computer manufacturer decides for the end-user by bundling software configured to automatically operate in this way.
The blocking methods they use not only block some advertisements, but also block entire websites and other non-advertising related tracking technology. With their aggressive blocking methods, they are in-fact blocking e-commerce tracking mechanisms.
For example, if you shop through a rebate service like eBates or My Points, Norton Internet Security will block the tracking URLs that allow online merchants to report transactions back to the rebate programs. Is this intentional? Perhaps not, but it is irresponsible as there are consumers who do not realize that this is happening to them.
Symantec’s security products as well as their consumer trust ratings are among the top in the industry. We feel that they have a responsibility to be more consistent and cautious in what they block.
What to do about Ad Blocking?
If you are a computer user, check to see if you have Ad Blocking software like Norton Internet Security on your computer. Consider changing the settings to disable the ad blocking feature as it is configurable.
If you are a website owner, there are several things you can do:
- Educate your user base. Write messaging or use scripts that notify users that they have ad blocking software on their computer. Use an Adblock detection and notification script or use our messaging to help educate users.
- Name your images and files well. Don’t use common ad terminology in your links, like “ad”, “468″, “banner”, etc. Software like Norton Internet Security blindly blocks such files.
- Don’t include image dimensions in your graphic files. Adblock software triggers off common ad sizes when looking for HTML to block. Browsers are very good at handling images without size attributes these days.
- Cloak your advertising and affiliate urls and links through local redirects. Ad Blocking sofware blocks all commonly used advertising domains, like doubleclick, valueclick, linksynergy.com, etc. Create a redirect script on your website that makes it look like a URL is served from your page instead of an ad-serving provider’s site.
Adblock software, like any other software is a users’ prerogative. But when it is installed without the users’ knowledge of what it does, and without clear notification or indication of how it is working, that does the Internet a disservice.
September 6th, 2004 at 7:17 am
i use your product & it certainly doesNOT stop adds attacking my computer.
September 7th, 2004 at 8:40 am
Who’s product do you use? AdBlock.org doesn’t have a product (other than the adblock detection script, if you can call it a product).
If you’re talking about one of the products discussed here, like Norton Internet Security, you’re definitely complaining at the wrong place!
November 17th, 2004 at 3:48 pm
What is so silly about your entire site is you pretend that it is in the interest of the people. You claim that since people dont know how this software is functioning, or even that it exisist, is a disservice to consumers. here’s a quote from this page..
‘The blocking methods they use not only block some advertisements, but also block entire websites and other non-advertising related tracking technology.’
How many people do you think know about this ‘non-advertising related tracking technology’? How many people would approve of all the types of tracking technology that exists if they did know about it?
Get real.. most people do now want intrusive advertising everywhere they look. The people who do, are profiting for it, who is what this site is really about.
April 15th, 2005 at 9:08 pm
I just say that I’m using Firefox + Adblock AND Norton Internet Security and I really love it, no ads. It’s just great
June 9th, 2005 at 2:16 am
i use maxthon + norton internet security… and it’s works like a charm
June 21st, 2005 at 10:28 am
I’d like to place a comment in support of this site.
For a long time I have been receiving complaints from people saying they couldn’t log in to our site. After much frustration we realised that our log in button was the same size as a standard banner and so had been removed by Norton.
Keep up the good work.
August 6th, 2005 at 4:42 pm
I use firefox with adblock with Filterset.G
Instructions at http://how-to-block-ads.blogspot.com/
September 4th, 2005 at 7:57 am
It is not about removal of ADS or not, its about manipulation of the content.
If I have a website I wanna make sure that all the content I make it getting delivered to make sure the correct quality, if some idiotic ad remover software is messing up the page it is in real a crime, a crime defined by the law of copyrights.
Sure I can understand why some wanna stop popup ads, spyware and all that shit, but why behaving like blood sucking parasites and only get free contents without giving anything back like sometimes click on a advertising if it is interesting, what harm can that do ? Or do all freebie people wanna all free sites to end and the net get even more commercial with more locked up websites for good content ? That is what will happend in the future if people doesnt start to take responsibility.
November 27th, 2005 at 12:10 pm
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The problem isn’t these 468×80 or whatever sized banners. I don’t care for these.
I use Adblock because of these popup ads that circumvent the popup blocker using Flash,
and even more because of these layer ads that often don’t even have a working close
button which is the worst. Okay, probably these close buttons work on IE, but IE does
not run on this computer and probably never will.
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December 11th, 2005 at 8:39 pm
You want ads and we don’t want ads. That’s the basic conflict. The WEB is a fascinating opportunity for people. If you want to make money on it, great. Let those who want to support you do so. But the rest of who don’t, we will block you.
August 26th, 2006 at 6:14 pm
My opinion is that the consumer doesn’t understand the reason behind ads - namely to generate revenue (which isn’t a bad thing). In the beginning, everything on the web was free. Go to Alta Vista - free. Go to Google - free. All these companies need to make money though. Think of it as public television (or cable for that matter). The reason all the shows are broadcast (and all the internet sites can continue to publish relevant information) is because someone is willing to pay for it. Now if your like me as a web-surfer, paying my IPS is enough, I’m not about to pay for looking at content too. So when it comes to ads, I support them - in that I understand this is the way sites fund their efforts. If I don’t like the ads (especially pop-ups), I don’t go to the site. This is the main reason I don’t go to CNN.com. And that’s the way it should be - just like I don’t watch some channels if the content isn’t worth bearing the commercials. Now that said - it also really torques me that the ad blockers (the ones that strip the content) are actually modifying copyrighted material by modifying the HTML. If they want to block the ad - they should just block the whole site. But then nobody would use Norton if that happened …… exactly. The bottomline is people shouldn’t get to choose what is on the web sites they go to if they expect to get the content for free.