Pop-Under Deception and Private Property

Posted by CmdrTaco on Wednesday August 1, 2001 @11:31AM from the sleeping-in-the-bed-you-made dept.

RogerRamjet98 writes "I was browsing the web today and I got hit with a pop-under ad. Annoying but no big deal, right? Wrong. This one managed to change my home page to (CT:Link removed. Why would we send these dicks traffic?) Which pretends to be yahoo, and is convincing enough to fool the average computer user, but is really a platform for launching more pop-under ads. Combine this with the AOL/WinXP news, and it makes me think that the settings on my computer ought to enjoy legal protection as private property: Changing them without my permission (such as adjusting my home page, or whatnot) should constitute assault or trespass." Or turn of JavaScript. Or don't run IE. But good luck on that trespass case. With a history of laws like the DMCA, Uncle Sam can only make it worse.

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good bloody luck by mrwiz · 2001-08-01 11:34 · Score: 0, Offtopic

This is one of those things where you just need to step up and defend yourself. While there very well may need to be some kind of law in place to protect against such activity, it can't very easily be enforcable worldwide. Plus there's so much bloody red tape these days it would take years for such a law to pass. Take some of these suggestions people have had and run with them. Turn off javascript. Use a browser that lets you turn off pop up windows.