Slashdot Mirror
A New Low for Web Advertisers: Pop-Up Downloads
rizzmanix writes: "I thougt it was strange that I had been getting a lot of pop-up download prompts for the Gator software as I browsed around the web in the recent days. Why were all these sites requiring this Gator thing I wondered?
Well I wonder no more... as apparently advertisers hit a new low by running 'pop-up downloads' instead of pop-up ads. Sneaky, underhanded, nasty and vile."
Scares the hell out of me. Whoever does this should get their sites DoSsed immediately.
This is a major security issue, and clearly by default the only warning in MSIE is a dialog box, which you may already have set to just accept downloads automatically.
Yet another reason to use non-standard browsers and non Windows OS, so that you even if you end up with an executable it won't execute.
Conversion Rate Optimisation French / English consultant
What programs do this? I've never, ever seen a webbrowser that automatically installs stuff. At least not until you specifically specify for that site only (like MS Updates, or Station.Sony.com)
"But those horror stories are the exception. More typically, software makers are simply using the downloads to distribute legitimate products."
Legitimate products don't automatically download onto my computer without my concent.
Free Mac Mini
Yet another reason to browse with Mozilla or Opera with onLoad (or all) popups disabled.
Most of these advertising techniques either rely on browsers (or users) who don't or can't disable popups easily. (read: 90% of the internet explorer population.) Or they rely on Internet Explorer specific techniques, e.g. windowless flash animations (transparent backgrounds) for shoshkeles, etc.
I think it's time the antivirus companies step up to the plate for the average consumer, and add blocking/filtering to the AV clients. Maybe it's overkill, but if you could tag these popup downloads as a potential virus (or at least unauthorized use of your computer) the world would be a better place. Or, create some add-ons to mozilla which filter popups against a database (ala the defunct spamcop) popupcop?
When something is sold as "advertising" but is nothing less than an attempt to trick or confuse a person into purchasing, downloading or installing your software, that's misrepresentation and/or fraud. Regardless of any 2pt fine-print at the bottom, or "user agreement" on the page. Hard to stop them, though.
This happened last night I'm afraid...
I was completely shocked when the gator icon mysteriously appeared and greeted me. I removed the little bastard immediately. However, I let a long sigh as I realized it would come back shortly.
So last night I decided to go with mozilla and live with whatever problems it may bring.
The mozilla team should thank the gator software company and evil commie bastard marketing reps around the world.
"You should always go to other people's funerals; otherwise, they won't come to yours." -- Yogi Berra
"Do you accept this download?" If the consumer clicks "Yes," an application is automatically installed.
This clutter has created a haven for pop-up downloads because consumers find it hard to determine the ad's origin.
Gator isn't the only software maker using this tactic to add consumers.
"Consumers want control of their PCs," Gator President Jeff McFadden said in a statement.
Why am I a consumer just because I am accessing the Internet? The problem here is not the pop-up technology, but the unwritten assumption (perpetuated by the author of the report) that we are all just mindless "consumers of product" that need to be targeted by ads.
Only when this mindset is abandoned will we see an end to attention grabbing and demographic gathering.
And PPC Linux binaries are probably out of the question...
What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
Wow, yet another "I didn't read the article, but I feel fully qualified to comment on it" response...
For you and others like you, it specifically states that a pop-up box appears and requires the user to accept the download, and they rely on the fact that 99.999999% of the non-slashdot population immediately assumes it is something they need and click "Yes".
A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing -- Emo Phillips
One thing that "society" tries to do is protect the average joe from the consequences of ignorance. Why do that, you ask? Why not let Darwin take his course? Because as our wealth grows and our world becomes more complex, everyone is ignorant about some areas of life. And today, everyone is ignorant about most things that keep us alive (dug your own well lately?).
So let's be careful here - just because Slashdotters know better than to click on that Yes doesn't mean everyone does or should.
sPh
Look if you don't want to view a site's ads, then don't go to the site. It is as simple as that. Blocking certain portions of a site's content because you don't personally want to see it is definitely immoral and arguably illegal
What a load of horse pucky.
I understand that websites have to generate revenue, and that the current method is moving more toward pop-up/under ads. That's fine. That doesn't mean I have to subject myself to it. As an informed consumer I have the right to ignore the ads in whatever way I deem fit, whether that means closing the windows as they come up or telling my computer to not allow them to render in the first place.
Should a browser default to stopping pop-ups? Hell no. It breaks too many sites that use pop-ups for additional help/information windows, sites that load links in a new window, etc. But I should certainly have the option to kill pop-ups if I want to enable it (and preferably with a quick key to reenable them - like Popup Stopper has).
Want to argue otherwise? Go for it. You also watch every commercial on TV, right? No getting up to go to the bathroom/kitchen. No recording it to VCR or PVR and fast forwarding/skipping through the commercials. Because if you are then, by your own definition, you are immoral. Maybe even commiting a crime!
Oh, and do you read every ad in a magazine? Do you throw out those blown-in/tear-out cards in magazines before someone else can read them? Do you read every billboard that passes by while in a car? EVERY TIME?
I don't think so.
And yes, I know this was a troll. Congrats. But this kind of thinking might actually get some people that nod and drool "yes", and it's so abundantly stupid it needs to be shut down before hand.
This isn't too restrictive. Big players, like Amazon, Yahoo Store, and the major search sites, all work under these restrictions. If your site doesn't, your site is broken.
I personally feel that pop-ups, pop-unders, exit-pops, and back-button disabling are all immoral behavior that the web browser should stop by default. A pop-up in response to a click is acceptable, on-load is abusive.
However, if you block the banners or ads from the site itself, I feel that you have crossed a line.
Popups are from the site itself. Do you think someone cracked the site and added them over the webmaster's objections?
Receiving the ads is the price of visiting the site. While you are welcome to receive the site's content in any way that you want, blocking banners, etc., is essentially the same as shoplifting. You are taking what you want without paying the costs.
Viewing advertising is simply not an accepted requirement for viewing the related content. There is no social expectation that people read the ads in newspapers and magazines, or watch every ad on television as a prerequisite for viewing the associated content. Your statement that there is such an expectation or obligation does not make it so.
What's going to happen when you don't have an icon in your system tray and have no inkling that a foreign program is running on your PC?
-motardo
Unfortunately, this has nothing to do with onload and onunload events in JavaScript (probably why they came up with this scam).
/. I got so angry that I started working on my own browser.
.exe's. If you don't know how to render it, leave it alone.
You could, for example, create a frameset and make one of the frame source links an '.exe'. Mozilla brings up a window where you want to save this file just fine. (just tested with Moz 0.9.9)
A pain in the fuckin arse, it is. Last time there was an article about this crap on
Initially I wrote a C++Builder app that uses the IE engine, and I got it to the point where it would absolutely never open a pop-up window. It displays the link of the last attempt, which you can then click to open that link. BUT, some of these sites are tricky, and use a crazy technique to open the pop-up. Which basically results in a Javascript error if you don't open a new window. For some reason IE feels the need to bring up a dialog-box to report this and ask if you want to continue to run scripts. (I've not found a way to get rid of this).
So although a step in the right direction, it's still not perfect, and I've had to postpone work on it.
The bottom line though,- write your browser manufacturer about the following:
Say that you feel the browser has bother-some behaviour. Ask them to please NOT:
- open new windows from automatically generated script events. This includes not only onload & onunload, but also timers for example. The only time a new window may be opened is when I, the user, specifically requests so.
- allow scripts to modify the look n feel of the browser. It's unacceptable that scripts can change the size/position of the browser for example. I've recently seen pop-up windows which had NO border what so ever,- the entire window was HTML. How difficult could it be to impersonate a browser and do all kinds of bad stuff once you start allowing that behaviour.
- have dialog boxes that do NOT include some sort of [ ] Do not display this message again.
- do not automatically start the download of 'foreign' mime-types, such as
(please note that Mozilla indeed complies with most of these items)
In other words: when I'm browsing, I give the website I'm visiting a canvas (the area inside my browser window), and that's all they get until I request so otherwise.
I've debated wheter the Flash plugins that have a truck drive across a webpage should not be allowed either, but I concluded that that's the choice of the website. If they want to obfuscate their content,- fine. I will just go away and never come back.
AH, enough ranting for an early morning.
I do, but regular everyday users don't. What I was trying to allude to was that some malicious software could be installed on users pc's without them noticing.
-motardo
Or why not go with Opera. They've had the function for quite some time and I must say that it's been efficient.
Quick preferences (F12 on Windows) -> Refuse Pop-up windows.
"Democracy is three wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner."