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Prince of Pop-ups
Ric writes "From the article lead paragraph: 'If you hate pop-up ads, you might blame Brian Shuster. A long-time figure in the Internet pornography world, Shuster recently received a patent for the ad format and is now looking to make some money off the sites that use it. And that's just the beginning - Shuster has a long list of pending patents, including one for pop-up audio ads that cannot be turned off.'"
Here's hoping lots of sites don't want to pay the license fee and stop using popups.
Only in America!
If this guy can start charging people for using popups then these webpages won't pay and popups will start dying off. While a patent like this is mostly a bad thing, the side effects are good!
Of course I use mozilla with popup filtering enabled, so it's not really that much of an issue to me. =)
Do you Gentoo!?
"for pop-up audio ads that cannot be turned off" Axe->speaker Obnoxious
God Bless Mozilla .. no more pop-ups. Hopefully it will still block those audio pop-ups "that can't be turned off."
Why doesn't he just cut through all the crap and patent the very idea of being a complete and utter asshole? Then he could demand royalties from all other assholes when they display their assholitudinism. Then, if they get pissed off and come after him, he can claim that in itself was assholish and sue for *that*.
It's the perfect plan. What could go wrong?
To inundate him with junk mail, of course, and also to hit him up for money. Or just hit him. No, wait, I'm a Quaker. I keep forgetting that...
That's gotta fit into your schema somewhere
how about the /. crowd find the rascal and give him a taste of his own popups..
Maybe this means that websites will stop using pop-ups.
Oh, and I think I devised a way to turn off the pop-up audio:
1. Press the power button on your computer's speakers.
2. When you're done with the site, press the power button again.
Gee, maybe I should patent this.
"Do I dare disturb the universe?"
he's in internet porn eh? Maybe someone can fix it so he can't "pop-up" anymore
I'm all against stupid patent tricks but if someone can get rid of some popups by trying to get license fees for them I'm all for that
"Not all chemicals are bad. Without chemicals such as hydrogen and oxygen, for example, there would be no way to m
Should be changed to Shyster.
Then it would be more accurate....
If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
what the porn business needs are more ron jeremys. men with ethics, morals, and nicknames shared with sega mascots. i have no love for this popup chap.
"Life is great; without it, you'd be dead." -Harmony Korine
Hopefully he charges astronomical licence fees for both "innovations" retroactive to the day he filed. Hopefully that will be the nail in the coffin that drives these scourges off the desktop.
Heck, I wish somebody had patented spam as well!
My rights don't need management.
When pop-up ads are outlawed, only outlaws will use pop-up ads.
Wonderful! An anti-popup web article that uses popup advertising!
*yawn* Thank you for promoting the latest Mozilla.
For him, he's living out the american dream. The freedom to create and sell an idea.
Unfortunately, the mass population HATES this idea and in fact people have gone so far to block this technology with software.
This should get intresting...
Popups are similar to telemarketers. Often, the consumer is not intrested in the product. People who disliked this technology came up with devices to block telemarketers and now there is a legislative "do not call" list. It would be pretty hard to have a "do not popup" list. Unless the ISPs stepped in and placed ALL their users and perhaps had to pay a fee to keep the pop ups away.
just my 2 cents worth...
I'll just patent pissing people off and take all his money.
including one for pop-up audio ads that cannot be turned off
I think he'll find that everything can be turned off.
---- Den ene knappen er powerknapp, den andre er Bender voice knapp "Bite My Shiny Metal Ass"
On having a site dedicated to bashing a company's (or companies) products and policies, while at the same time selling sed company large blocks of advertising space in the middle of articles.
It's called the "Method for a Hypocritical Advertising Revenue System". Dig deep Taco, I'm coming after you first.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
Ric writes:
"...including one for pop-up audio ads that cannot be turned off."
Ha. Hahaha. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA.
Too bad there is no moderation for "not terribly insightful but damned succinct."
My
Limekiller
You see, I am the guy who actually clicks through the ads to go to the advertised sites. If it weren't for me, then no traffic would be generated by the ads and hense no advertising revenue.
I think I di this because I really like to screw people over.
Also, I don't use squid or other technologies to block the pop-up ads because doingso would spoil all of my fun.
I also like to drive 45 MPH on the highway during rush hour while I yammer away on my cell phone.
mozilla lets you just turn them off.
when was the last time pr0n resulted in a turn off? Oh yeah -- that goat website.
Support a few technologists in Washington.
Their entire profession infringes and could be liable for centuries of back damages!
Other Shuster patents include similar technology to take control of a user's computer and send them to unexpected Web sites
Whats to prevent this guy from opening a page to a site which opens a pop-up ad, which opens a page to another, rinse...repeat?
Patents are good and all, but they need to be analyzed for abuses.
"Some fight for law. Some fight for justice. What will you fight for? One day, you will see."
Do I like this man or hate him?
Pro: He promotes porn on the Internet.
Pro: He will sue a few people into not using pop-ups, at least for a little while.
Con: He "created" annoying pop-up ads.
The situation would be similar if Hillary Rosen, remaining the bitch that she is, was really hot and liked to give me blowjobs...
Okay, well, the blowjobs would easily win out. But you get the idea.
Down with Saudi Arabia!!!
Ok, how is a pop-up ad window considered a Traffic Management Utility?? I just don't get it....
- mobster75!
I think I'll patent annoying stupid people and make a million bucks. I don't know which is more intrusive. Pop-ups, or annoying stupid people.
TWW
"Encyclopedia" is to "Wikipedia" what "Library" is to "Some people at a bus stop"
Why do companies do this?
It is worth their while to do so.
If my bank had annoying popups, I would write and complain.
You can use browsers that disable this.
Like spam, if people refused to buy services from companies that use these techniques, they would stop. But they DO work, and as long as they work, they will do this.
This is a rhetorical question : how can one possibly patent a 'feature' built into web-browsers? Popups are only possible because some idiot decided that opening another window without the users consent (and even doing this recursively!) was "friendly" behavoir and belonged in the javascript spec. The same applies to sound. This is another consequence of our failing legal system (lets be honest : its on life support at best. Its BROKEN. While the basic tenants of judges, juries, and appeals might be good, the implementation is falling apart). If the legal system worked without application of large sums of money (and I would not call giving the victory to the one with the money 'justice') this patent would have no meaning.
JUST SHUT UP
IANAL, but wouldn't the fact that it is being copyrighted mean that anyone can get the 'formula' to how it works? Then we can created filters or blocking utilities to stop them alltogether. This is exactly the kind of crap we should be creating legislation against, rather then rewarding patents to. This is pure criminal behavior from my point of view. But thats just my opionion.
"Reality is a crutch for people who can't handle drugs" - George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)
So in other words...
Patents pending for porno pop-up prince?
Best Windows Freeware
He must be murdered immediately. The consequences of any other course of action are too dire to even be conceptualized.
Murder.
Popup ads are becoming increasingly more irrelevant. There is only one browser that is
still
affected by them, and that is Internet Explorer. However, with options out there like
AvantBrowser(Popup blocking, tabbed browsing) that use the Explorer rendering engine, there
really is no reason for someone to continue to be bothered by them.
The only reason that popups survive is because the "average" internet user, running vanilla
Internet Explorer will see them, and one out of every few thousand might click through.
Eventually companies using these tactics will switch to viable advertising solutions.
He also has a patent on the "use of the Internet to display, via browsing GUI device, person(s) in various states of undress; may also include various suggestive poses." He plans on going after sites that infringe on his patent. I wonder what impact this will have on the Internet.
What those who want activist courts fear is rule by the people.
Yes, I'd like to patent the pop-up.
Uh, sir - that's been in use for quite some time now.
I see, well has anyone claimed it?
No sir.
Yes, I'd like to patent the pop-up...
Will it make you go away sir?
--
Left, left, I hadda good brain but it left...
The folks who are hoping this will be the end of pop-ups are overlooking the obvious. This guy isn't going to sue anyone with the finances to kill his patent, he's going to chase after the little guys trying to scrape a living off the internet so he can cash in without getting his patent invalidated.
I still do most of my browsing with a dial-up modem. Graphic ads are a big enough drain on my bandwidth as it is. If advertisers are going to start shoving audio tracks down my connection, they ought to be paying me back for the wasted resources.
Information wants to be $1.98/lb.
the problem is getting anyone to admit to it! ;)
"He even suggested that, armed with the patent, his firm will be able to clamp down pop-up abuse."
Ha!
"In lab tests, the response rate to what might be called "pop-up audio" has been outstanding, Shuster said, meaning such ads may soon be interrupting plenty of Web surfers, or at least those who don't manage to turn off their speakers fast enough."
Double Ha!
Who is this guy kidding? We know he's going to do some shitty things, lets just hope Shuster gets enough cash money to sue the pants off people without a liscense to use pop-ups. Maybe if we're lucky his liscensing terms will make it cost inefective to keep using pop-ups for revenue
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
Can't you turn off popups by disabling javascript, or mucking through the source of moz and removing the javascript function for window.open?
-
ping -f 255.255.255.255 # if only
I actually think this is a good thing. Why? Because this might force people to stop with their damned popup ads or else pay royalties to this guy.
Maybe more patents could be used in this way in order to stop other anoying internet irritants.
Just my two cents.
Go here for teh [sic] funny.
The pop-up patent was filed in 1998, and under patent law, challengers would have to show similar technology being used prior to 1997.
I bet someone used it before this spammer figured it out.
Probably already been done, but what if I patent the idea of blocking popups? Then I could sell the patent to this guy and he could go around charging everybody for blocking the popups that he patented. Either way, he would win. This is a joke - if anyone is inclined to take it seriously.
What's a pop-up? Oh ... right. I haven't seen any since I started to use Camino / Chimera, so for a year ...
Of course, as a non-commercial project Mozilla has to keep away from any patent infringement.
I thinks it's kind of crazy to allow a chuck of code to be patented. How I wish I was the first to patent the use of the image tag in HTML.
By the way...
I'm in the process of patenting 4" square pieces of a 1mm thick woven material, used to remove waste products from skin. It also stipulates that these "sheets" will be strung together in line, and stored on a "roll".
I think most people would use such a product, and can't wait to reap the rewards!
Also trying to patent the use of a special mixture of gasses (70% Nitrogen, 21% Oxygen, with a few secret ingredients)... Patented with the name "air".
Why worry? Each of us is wearing an unlicensed "nucular" accelerator on his back.
Sig changed for readability by G.W.
It's not just the money, it's who's collecting. Anyone who wants to use a pop up having to bow down before the porn master who dreamed up the sleazy idea? Classic. I hope someone makes a big fuss and that it becomes common knowledge that advertisers are paying porn masters to be able to irritate you. Guilt by association and tribute! Suffer, you dick heads!
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
Beyond the jokes about his popup adds and such, this guy is also interested in technology used in non-annoying ways by the sounds of things. I'm sure there's things I've developed he probably claims he's patented or is trying to patented.
Do I think he'll get ahead on this? Probably not, but only probably - it takes a few people caving to enrich his coffers and get capital flowing in, so he could become a noteable pain in the rump if things go well.
I think the best bet is to keep outing this guy as a jerk, play up the sleazy questions about his past, and make sure people are aware. What company will want to settle with someone like this? It'd be publically humiliating.
It's truly a sad day when I strike a blow for pop-ups.
"The Sage treasures Unity and measures all things by it" - Lao Tzu
use Firebird (AKA Phoenix) and your popup troubles will disapear! :)
Hey, finally, someone even bin Laden and Saddam would probably refuse to be seen with. Mozilla Rules! (Except that rev that would turn the entire ABCnews.com site into a endless repeating mega-pop-up)
When the people responsible for reporting the news can't even bother to get their facts right, how can we expect that the average person on the street will get any understanding of these issues.
He wouldn't sent out copyright infringement notices, because it is a patent.
He filled in step 2.
1) invent pop-ups
2) sue everyone
3) profit!
If tits were wings it'd be flying around.
"Shuster has a long list of pending patents, including one for pop-up audio ads that cannot be turned off."
OK, kids, all together now...
'If it can be turned on in software, in can be turned off in software'
Here, Brian. This is an axe. Here, Brian. This is the goose that popped up the golden eggs. The chopping block is over there. Get to work. PLEASE!
If I read the original article right, this Shyster guy claims to have built a "$100 million business" selling a "product" (porn) that is illegal for over-the-counter sales in many communities using questionable & possibly fraudulent methods. And he's going to be convincing mainstream businesses to license his "technology"? Gimme a break!
No, don't give me a break. American business is driven by marketing morons these daze -- anything's possible. As ol' Forrest said, "Stupid is as stupid does."
So, is Shyster filing a complaint with Sun for distributing JavaScript? I mean, they are aiding & abetting infringement on his pop-up "patent"...
"Obviously, I'm not an IBM computer any more than I'm an ashtray" (Bob Dylan)
As an Avid Mozilla user, I'm happy about the anti-popup device.
However, eventually, when these advertizers realize that more people are not using IE, they'll start coding ways to avert that security blanket.
My confusion around this issue is:
Why do these advertizers think we (the population who blocks this garbage) want to see their trash on our screen?
I'm sure this has been answered before, but the answers have not been satisfactory to me.
*Carlos: Exit Stage Right*
"Geeks, Where would you be without them?"
"Got Linux?"
"Flashpants (What a feeling)"
(To the tune of "Flashdance (What a Feeling)," Irene Cara)
Late, when there's nothing but a dim glowing screen
That displays what you hide deep inside your drive
All alone in the night, with your hand gripping tight
and your cock stiff as steel, hard as stone
Well I feel my pussy, close my eyes, pinch my nipples
Wrap around, take a hold, of your cock!
What a feeling! Penis greasing!
You can see it all and I'm younger than your wife!
Take your pants off! And get your nuts off!
Pictures come alive when you come into your eye!
Now my tits are perky, rub my clit, spread my pussy
In a flash, you take hold of your cock!
What a feeling! Fiendish beating!
Keep your Lubriderm and your tissues standing by!
Pull your pants down! And make the saints frown!
Pictures come alive then you come into your eye!
What a feeling!
What a feeling (You are horny now)
Penis greasing (Look at porno now)
Pictures come alive then you come into your eye!
What a feeling (You can really see it all)
What a feeling (etc.)
(-1, Raw and Uncut is the only way to read)
1) don't use a sound card. In the case of intregrated audio chips, buy a dremel tool
2) Turn off your speakers
3) Cut off your ears. See note regarding dremel tool in 1)
-Pete
How do people like this sleep at night, do they accept the fact that they are complete assholes, and wastes of space? Or are they blissfully unaware, just thinking they are making a quick buck using their "computer machine". I do not know which would comfort me more. Them being jerk-offs, or being complete dumbasses.
I hate sigs.
This is not a good thing, its just another nail in the coffin for those of us who would like to see and end to pointless patents but, at least in the short term if he has any success this could destroy the economics of the pop-up and rid us all of it.
Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
If I owned that patent, I'd say only porn websites can use pop-ups, and I have to be getting laid in any picture used in the pop-up.
$8.95/mo web hosting
A patent-violating site is violating the patent, not copyright.
I think these new ads are going to be really annoying. I think that my browsing expierence (with IE) will not be as pleasent as before, especially if I were to stumble across an inappropriate "banner" in a public place. This also isn't so good for school districts which will now have to be more agressive with ad filtering.
On the other hand, this guy is trying to make some money by doing a little innovation in a field which has pretty much stuck with the tried and true since it's inception. Not that this is innovation that we like want or need, but a guy has to eat.
Ahh, the joys of capitalism.
-Aaron
is he liable for popups then? if in the act of getting stormed by popups i am forced to power off my pc and it damages my hardware is he liable?
:)
i hope so
(The popups appear when you click a "next page" or "previous page" link in the article, so Mozilla must be treating it as a requested popup. In addition to a whitelist of sites that are allowed to throw popups, Mozilla needs a blacklist of sites that are never allowed to throw popups.)
20 January 2017: the End of an Error.
I was asked a question by a co-worker yesterday, and did not have a solid answer. Since it somewhat relates to this story and google did nothing but bring back ads for popup blockers, I thought I would loose it to the /. people. Simple question -- Anybody who has used Firebird, Mozilla, Opera, etc -- has seen how much better the browsing experience is without countless popups. What is stopping Microsoft from putting out a version or patch of/to IE that has this feature? I know that the conspirecy theorists could speculate to no end on this one, but is there a simple answer?
(+1 Funny) only if I laugh out loud.
Somewhat on-topic... I recently setup Squid at home for fun, and I was wondering if there is a good pop-up/banner blocking plugin for it, or if it is possible to do it with a stock install?
This seems kind of ironic to me. Kind of like those SPAM messages you get selling you a product to get rid of SPAM... :)
I don't understand why you guys don't like Pop-Ups. The strawberry ones are delicious.
Grandma Simpson & Lisa "How many roads must a man walk down?" Homer : "Eight!". Lisa: "That was a rhetorical question!" Homer: "Oh. Then, Seven!" Lisa: "Do you even know what 'rhetorical' means?" Homer: "Do I know what 'rhetorical' means?"
for the last time people, I am "frodo from middle eaRTH", not "middle eaST".
Jack
I didn't know that any of these creatures actually exist. Please show me an example of one.
Laws are for people with no friends.
Popups suck, all types od advertising suck, but unfortunately ad's are here to stay.
However, some sites seem to be alot less annoying about it then others. And I say... get ISP's and backbones to start null routing traffic from all sites that use obnoxious advertising practices.
I came, I conquered, I coredumped
How much do patents cost? That bit about amazon vs B&N just sounds ridiculous and now this guy wants to patent spam? Who holds the patent for kneecapping people?
Arrrggghhhh
One, called "Method, apparatus and system for directing access," describes the use of "hidden frames" to inject javascript onto an unsuspecting user's computer, which can later be used to send the browser to another Web site.
A patent on cyberhijacking?
"The reason the Internet has stalled out so badly is that advertising is a non-profitable segment," he added. The use of "hijacked traffic" is a question of balance, Shuster said, but there has to be effective advertising so "a provider of content can make a reasonable living."
No, the Internet has not "stalled out so badly" despite the waste of bandwidth that obtrusive advertising such as this brings about. Between AdSubtract Pro and Mozilla, at least I won't be affected by your need to destroy the 'Net experience.
"They will be hugely effective," Shuster said. "I apologize in advance to everybody on the Internet who won't be able to surf the Net in quiet anymore."
If you feel the need to apologize, perhaps you need to (1) re-evaluate your actions, or (2) quit lying; if you were sorry, you wouldn't do it.
Government's idea of a balanced budget: take money from the right pocket to balance...oh who am I kidding?
Don't even tell me that it's different because he is patenting the 'process' of placing an add in a window. That would be equivalent to gaining patent on the procedure of a 'web page'.
Maybe I can use this to my advantage... I have a very special technique for masterbating that I feel is really my invention. I think you should all pay me whenever you feel naughty.
Just as irrigation is the lifeblood of the Southwest, lifeblood is the soup of cannibals. -- Jack Handy
"He must be murdered immediately. The consequences of any other course of action are too dire to even be conceptualized."
So does that mean we change the article title to "The guy formally know as..."?
TO DO LIST:
1. Add Brian Shuster to the list of people we need to ship to a cave in Iraq.
2. Make mental note that Brian Shuster is a f***ing scumbag. noted
... and with the M$ trusted platform, the speakers will be part of the motherboard and the case locked so that they can only be turned off by by M$. You will get thrown in jail if you tamper with your protective crypto or the hardware.
-- bartman
Everyone seems to be in cheery mood over this patent, as it will scare some would be pop-up advertisers away. However, I think the patent is kind of silly. First off, how can you patent a window? That is part of the patent right there. So part of the patent is patenting a separate window, but the window has to sell things. I don't think that stuff like that should be patentable. Having a browser open up a small pop up window isn't a new thing and is a basic browser function. Deciding to sell something in the same window isn't very genious either. It's annoying, but not special enough to patent.
rm -rf sig
In the MSNBC story Shuster states a line from his patent application that clear indicates his is infringing on Microsofts intellectual property... Internet Explorer and more importantly how consumers expect that product to function.
I think MS will ultimately squeeze/squash this little porn pimple...
The patent is explicit, describing computer code that can "interact with the browser to modify or control one or more of the browser functions, such that the user is directed to a predesignated site or page, instead of accessing the site or page typically associated with the selected browser function."
well what a coinkydink... from the article :
Shuster does have time on his side, Aharonian said. The pop-up patent was filed in 1998, and under patent law, challengers would have to show similar technology being used prior to 1997.
Just today i have an online acquaintence who said he was making poups ads for sites in 97. i'll be passing thisinfo along to him:)
Not that I see popups anymore(what's IE?), but I remember back when I was in Popup hell! Now they have to pay?
In the words of the George Carlin...
GOOD! F*CK 'EM!
F*CK 'EM GOOD!
F*CK 'EM TO DEATH!
F*CK 'EM TO DEATH!!!
In lab tests, the response rate to what might be called "pop-up audio" has been outstanding, Shuster said, meaning such ads may soon be interrupting plenty of Web surfers, or at least those who don't manage to turn off their speakers fast enough.
"They will be hugely effective," Shuster said. "I apologize in advance to everybody on the Internet who won't be able to surf the Net in quiet anymore."
What a pompous ass this guy is! I apologize in advance?!? Anyone have this guys home address?
I despise those ads that commandeer my browser. I put this type of crap on equal footing with viruses. Only a valueless cretin would write such crap. It's ironinc that he's going to try and collect royalties from the sleazeballs who deploy his anal explusive technology.
Wansu, th' chinese sailor
Patent #6,389,458 filled October 30, 1998
d s& safe=images&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&lr=&as_drrb=b&as_min d=12&as_minm=5&as_miny=1981&as_maxd=7&as_maxm=12&a s_maxy=1996&hl=en
Earliest mention of pop-up ads on Usenet 1996:
http://groups.google.com/groups?as_q=pop-up%20a
This is crazy. Patents for using [html, java, activex, cgi] in a certain way is absurd.
Think of it as patenting a commercial. Completely absurd.
Ummmmm, perhaps this is just the journalist summarising the patent but this sounds like Response.redirect in ASP/Denali (1996)
Never did any CGI programming but perhaps there's something you could do with it to accomplish the same thing? More experienced dev's wanna chime in?
Can you give an example? I'd like to try it with mozilla to see how it behaves there. Since I did
user_pref("capability.policy.default.windowinterna l.open", "noAccess");
user_pref("capability.policy.popupsites.windowinte rnal.open", "noAccess");
I have not seen a single popup.
PS: of course, there are no spaces in the quoted strings above, /. put the spaces there.
So, anyone else feel like taking a shower after reading that? I don't remember the source, but the line "Too bad they don't make a mouthwash for the mind" is appropriate.
I wonder if I can patent a method for eliminating pop-up ad patent holders using a high-speed projectile fired from a cylindrical barrel?
If you were me, you'd be good lookin'. - six string samurai
They grant this guy a patent. Then he starts suing people. They either pay up, in which case he has more money to pursue patents, or they refuse and the money that would be spent crafting more intrusive advertising gets wasted on lawyers instead. No matter which way it goes, advertising on the internet just gets that much more expensive.
Maybe he'll make enough money on this little scam to patent Flash.
High-speed Road Trip (18.000KPH)
Now if enough of the internet user decide they've had enough and collectively ignore/block intrusive advertising we can get rid of it
I think advertisers would just superimpose the ads over the content so that no one could read around them. At that point everything worth seeing would be moved to Bittorrent and only lusers would use the browser. We would not get rid of them, they would get rid of us.
"I have a dream that a guy who designs popup ads is having a major colonoscopy, and the proctologist is saying, 'It's the darnedest thing! Every time I snip a polyp, two more spring up in its place!'"
On the Car and Driver website (www.carandriver.com), there's both a Lincoln Flash ad, and a Cel-Phone Flash ad, that BOTH pop up, bouncing around, filling your screen with so much crap, and of course both close boxes are hidden way up in the right corner, its the most annoying thing i've ever seen i think.
May you be touched by His Noodly Appendage. RAmen.
"one-click" oops no that's taken. How about "double-press"?
I haven't seen once since I started using mozilla...
...that noone has a patent on *blocking* pop-ups. Or flash. Or any of the other lame stuff they try. Hmm maybe I should file a generic patent on anti-advertisement technology, before anyone else does. I suppose a marker pen or scissors may count as prior art, though.
Kjella
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
http://www.comicstrip.com/
Which even has his email should anyone feel the need to ask him questions about his fine patents...
No need for apologies, Mr. Shuster. I'd be happy to go Legolas all over your ass, and you can count the arrows in your back later, like the pioneer that you are.
Those who can, do. Those who can't, write technology blogs.
*reaches over and turns down the volume on the speakers*
-- taking over the world, we are.
I thought theft of computing services was illegal.
the dictionary says:
shyster
n. Slang
An unethical, unscrupulous practitioner, especially of law.
Seems to fit Shuster quite well.
-- This sig for rent.
1) invent incredibly annoying ads 2) obtain patent 3) ???? 4) Profit
This post was brought to you by the number 584811 and the characters / and .
I thought the same thing. The only thing I can think of is the guy has a patent on putting advertisements in popups. It's as if someone invented television, and then someone else came along and patented the idea of putting advertisements on TV.
Even though the side effect of this patent being enforceable would be nice (less popups), the precedent set for trivial patents would be worse.
AccountKiller
At the very least, we need to find a way to circle his house 24/7 with ice-cream trucks that play "Turkey In The Straw" and other similar abominations off-key until he can't stand it anymore and starts beating his head against a brick wall until his face looks like 5 lbs of raw hamburger. Or we could simply find his e-mail address and/or home contact information and send him a deluge of "gift subscriptions," "free trials," Franklin Mint tawdriness, and other junk, not to mention sending him Slashdot's current existing corpus of spam, and some invasive code that will let us know exactly what he's doing every hour of the day (or something equally horrible like that)...or...or...or...
I'm ethically opposed to cruel and unusual punishment, though, so I say we just off the jerk before he can do any more damage. (At the very least, can we exile him to a nice deserted island somewhere with no Internet connection? Please?!)
I'm not a geek, I'm just a clever script.
"interact with the browser to modify or control one or more of the browser functions, such that the user is directed to a predesignated site or page, instead of accessing the site or page typically associated with the selected browser function."
So he patented misleading people via a web browser...
Intersting.
"Live Free or Die." Don't like it? Then keep out of the USA
wow, a claim from the creator of pop-ups. no wonder it's an AC post.
i say let this guy go patent away, scare everyone into abandoning pop-ups (for fear of lawsuits), then use a prior art claim to take the patent. unfortunately, doing that would mean admitting to inventing popups. still, the outcome would be good: fewer popups and the pr0n guy doesn't get to make undeserved money suing every website out there.
"Mister Potato-head --MISTER POTATO-HEAD! Backdoors are not secrets!" (War Games, 1983)
... is "assaholic". And once he'd sued the pants off all of his competitors, he'd still be able to deluge them in popups for "instant cure for assaholism" and so on.
Those damn flyers that alaways fall out of ever magazine you buy.
Or is that the same patent? pretty much i'd think,
but oooh it's obviously different on the net!
+----------------- | What is the question!
How about the Meow Mix jingle?
"Meow meow meow meow - meow meow meow meow - MEOW meow meow meow MEOW meow meow meow meow..."
Muahahaha!
Oh some good 'ol Ludwig Van, oh me brothers.
The patent is explicit, describing computer code that can "interact with the browser to modify or control one or more of the browser functions, such that the user is directed to a predesignated site or page, instead of accessing the site or page typically associated with the selected browser function."
Wouldn't this fall under some criminal activity of unauthorized interference with the normal operation of my computer. I didn't give him permission to "modify or control" my browser functions. He has hacked my computer and now must pay!!!
Seriously though, does anyone know what laws are typically applied to cases such as 'hacking' and virus writing, etc...
the above is my personal opinion and does not necessarily reflect that of the little voices in my head
I say someone should pop their dick up this guy's ass!
Why would I be mad at him? It sounds like he's got a great plan for putting an end to the damn things.
unless you turn off your sound. play away, I'll never hear it.
You've got to love google. Top of the comment page are adverts for
Popup Killer
Ultra Popup Block
etc..
Least its nice to know that there are 3rd party blockers as well as the builtin ones into browsers. Only problem I've found is that sometimes it blocks ones where I actually want to view the page. A whitelist would be nice
Rus
Cheap UK and US VPS
Oh, really?
*mutes speakers*
prevents animated gifs from being animated
does not allow windows resizing and moving around
prevents the status bar at the bottom being modified by the page, so that when I move the mouse pointer over a link, I can see the real URL, not what the web designer wanted me to see.
However, I still dunno how how to block flash ads, or at least to disable their motion by default. Of course, I could remove the flash plug-in, but then I'd get all the time the dialog window prompting me to download the plug-in. Plus, sometimes flash is good. I asked that in netscape.public.mozilla.general, and I saw others asking it, but there was no positive answer. It seems impossible at the moment? :(
If a given website wants to use popups thats fine. I will just not go there. The whole idea of editing the reg to redirect to porn sites is going way over the line as I'm sure children will do this. Again, what a bastard. Greedy selfish bastard.
Yeah, I'll just bet. There are at least a dozen web proxies that will cheerfully tell the audio ad to fuck off, and a hosts file will handle it, as well.
Not to mention, I don't actually have speakers on my computer anyway. For a reason.
Audio pop-ups. Gives a whole new humor to that .wav file that circulated via the forward-everything crowd a couple of years back.
The preceding post was not a Slashvertisement.
So are software patents okay now, or are the only okay when they might reduce the number of pop-ups people without Mozilla have to see?
It all depends on how "trusted" your browser and speakers are. Lo, the true king of slime will collect his share from the porn master.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
I don't see any popup at this page. There is an animated gif, which mozilla CAN block with the appropriate setting, and a flash, which it cannot block; or at least I dunno how how deal with flash, see my question below.
I realize the above is an Orwellian outlook on the stangle-hold Microsoft is hoping to foist on us, but DRM is a slippery slope indeed. Who knows how far down one will go once one gets started.
--If you code for the exceptions, the rules fall into place
Everyone knows that annoying the holy living motherfucking shit out of pontential customers is the best sales approach.
By these people's logic, the world's most effective ad would be one that causes you computer to kick you in the nuts while the guy from AC/DC sings "GRANDMA'S SAGGY TITS JIGGLING IN YOUR FACE" at 800 decibels and monkey feces shoots out of the cd drive and lands in your screaming mouth.
Interviewer: Hey, Jesse, why do you think the government came after you? /.)
(quote from: CNN, covered by
Lazy reporters...
[sarcasm] not that information is important in this age... [/sarcasm]
This is not my sig.
With a HREF you can set a taget window. If that window does not exist it's greated. Popped-up, as it were. You can place any kind of content in that window. Java script allows you to pop this extra target up with a specific size. This is all a given.
At the time this functionality was created there were ads on the web. They were a known type of content. The idea was that they would bring in money. We all know this.
This guys "innovation" is placing an add in new target window? The US Patent Office is grteat pleace. I'm sure it was totally non-obvious.
Patents in the US should be halted, until something can be done. This is causing harm to us all. Not this Patent issued. Issued falsely I'd say. It's the fact that a patent limits the rest of us. It allows an inventor(not in this case) to own an idea for a while.
Owned ideas are bad when they are ebvous, such as this one. To know when is and is not ebvous is way beyond the scope of our government. These are not the simplier times when Patents were penned into being in this country.
Patents should be rolled back, and used only in areas where innovation needs to be stoked. Computer and tech innovation is on a roll, and patens will only halt that trend.
It harms all of us to retard our progress and innovation by allowing a patnet office which cannot see the obvious from the innovaiton.
-- James Dornan
-- Prepared at the direction of, or to be sent to Legal Counsel, in anticipation of litigation. Attorney Client Pri
Block flash ads and javascript from certains sites, the same way you block images and cookies?
I'd also like to see a public list of ad servers available to link with Mozilla's blocking options where you can set it to block whatever images, cookies, flash apps, intrusive javascript, etc which load from the servers on that list. Or is there already such a list?
I currently have a patent pending for walking up to random people in the street and punching them in the face.
Don't patent applications have some sort of requirement for being for the benefit of mankind? Isn't that the idea behind them? To encourage people to invent socially useful things?
Does creating the window.open() command and embedding it into the JavaScript language count as prior art?
:-)
Surely that guy used it first; you have to test this stuff somehow
Caveat Emptor is not a business model.
Okay Cats and Kitties. Here it is, enjoy.
BRIAN SHUSTER
312 DORLA COURT, #102
ZEPHYR COVE, NV 89448
I guess he was tired of the title "Prince of Internet Porn" ... Guess I would be too.
-A.M.
Pimpin' all the Karma Hoes!
A lot of sites (like the once really cool but now really pathetic Vintage Gaming Network [vg-network.com]) now block downloads or forum access or other features if you block popups.
:P
So don't go there.
Why would I like to visit a "really pathetic", pop-up forcing site again?
Kilroy was here!
I'm gonna patent applying for patents of thing that shouldn't be patented with no plan to produce, but just to make a quick buck. If you try to do this first i'll sue you.
So which sort of pioneer is he:
- The sort who pulled up stakes and moved his family on whenever he was in the same place long enough to start seeing the smoke from a neighbor's chimney?
- The sort who came over with Columbus and set fire to the New World with killer epidemics?
Inquiring minds want to know.Seastead this.
Doesn't pop-ups use an existing standard with HTML, Javascript, and other web "STANDARS". So how can he patent using existing KNOWN features in a STANDARD?
There will come a day when a TV in every room is mandatory and the power off button is illegal! While we're at it, the network should also have control of the volume on the device.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
Hm, I'll see if I can get a patent on "interacting with Brian Shuster's head to modify one or more external or internal features by way of a heavy, blunt object"... I am thinking of making it available royalty-free.
sic transit gloria mundi
xpics.com was an immense success during the hey-days of porn, mostly due to implementation and Brian's hard work and shrewd business sense. It was xpics that not only set but also raised the bar as far as the online adult industry went, so you can be sure that if he builds it, it'll make money.
But it's these kinds of people that work the system for what it's worth - we all joke about pr0n pushing the industry forward, but you know as well as I do that there's fact behind this - I don't blame him for being a 'pop-up pioneer' any more than I blame someone that discovers and publishes a security backdoor/exploit to a known system. If there's any blame to place it's on the people who make his work possible. I consider this situation as a catalyst for better pop-up blocking code built in to your favourite browser and ultimately finding that delicate balance between intrusive surfing and effective advertising.
Seems like every time an article about spam/popups/whatever comes around, someone tries to find and post the address.
While it's a clever sort of revenge, it's not very practical. You don't send mail to a person, you send it to a building. If the person gets 'snail mail spammed,' all they have to do is move. The building remains 'spammed' for the next tenant, and the next...
Nope, don't like it, don't like it one bit...
I was going to say that really, popups aren't that bad. Especially compared to email spam; email just arrives, popups are generally helping fund sites I want to visit. Also, even in IE, they're pretty quick to clean out, every once in a while just kill all IE windows.
It's easier to kill popups and unders because they look different; their windows are much smaller and differently shaped than most people's browsing windows. My patent-pending (kidding) idea is that when those pages look like other pages with content I was actually interested in, they're going to be a lot more annoying to get rid of.
SO YOU'RE GOING TO DIE: The Comic for Dealing with Death
This is all total crap. All his patents are laughable and rely on system specifics - ie, windows and IE. HTML (lets forget about flash shall we) is a completely open system. Your computer requests it, it is sent to your computer, your computer deals with it as you wish. This effectively means that if you dont want your own computer to do something, then it wont.
All you need is the correct algorithm to process the HTML/Java whatever in the right way so that it doesn't bother you with pop-ups, audio or whatever. Has anyone invented or patented a method of blocking malicious code? yes its called a virus scanner (or virus scanner packaged as an ad-filter) and it just so happens that HTML and Java are a hell of allot easier to deal with than _real_ malicious code.
You could say this man is patenting virus methods or something like that, if it was a outlook-express visual basic script i dont think the patent office would see it in quite the same way? If not then let me be the first to invent a method of advertising that involves emailing itself to everyone on your address book.
This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
"A long-time figure in the Internet pornography world, Shuster ... Shuster has a long list of pending patents, including one for pop-up audio ads that cannot be turned off."
:)
Does he not realized how hard he's going to make it for people to get their porn fix at work? That's gotta be a big chunk of the internet pornography business
There's something poetic about an obnoxious advertiser, getting out of the advertising business to try to extort money from fellow obnoxious advertisers.
On a similar note, I encourage all spammers to go ahead and patent the process of hijacking mail relays, then go about suing each other out of existence.
The topic was pop-up ads patented by a porn-meister. Seems that a reference to the RIAA trying to fuck over the world by pushing for new laws and taxes that go too far is appropriate, but ...
Besides, if Hilary Rosen *quote* remained the bitch she is *unquote* you know that any blowjob would be followed by enough lawsuits, injunctions, and assorted PITA complaints, harrassment, etc., to, well, let's just say it would be the fucking you get for the fucking you got .
See topic, for I am a lazy bastard even though this took longer than to re-type the Subject... err.
-- Note: If you don't agree with me, don't bother replying. I won't read it.
His patents are going to hurt people who utilize popup ads, which I like.
On the other hand, there are companies like Walker Associates that get tons of patents and never implement the ideas, but instead sue whoever comes up with the same idea out of business, essentially killing the technology. And many oil companies buy up clean energy patents so that they too can sue anyone who uses the technology out of business, while they still have no plans to use the technologies themselves, so that clean energy technologies are also killed. They will even wait until small competitors start investing great deals of money into those technologies, unaware of the patents, then come forth and say "cease and desist" at the time when it will cause the company the greatest financial loss.
Looking at both sides, I still feel that long term patents are bad. They shouldn't last 17-34 years. And the popup patent will only deal a temporary blow to popup ads. People will simply lose the right to make their own popup ads without paying a license, but his company will still be trying to put them everywhere.
So I think we should oppose these patent, as with any other long term patents, and seek alternative remedies to the popup ad problem.
I believe that the popup problem will fix itself because anyone who hates popups enough will not go to sites that use them, or will use popup blockers. For most users of non-ms browsers, the problem is already solved.
This "innovative" guy filed his patent in 1998. Geocities started using pop-ups in November 1997. They even had a Special Brand Name for them: Geopops. There was a post regarding them in news.admin.net-abuse.email
This is not the same thing as what most of the readers (and likely the author of the article) have been assuming.
-B
O.K... Here's the plan. We all take turns following this scumbag around throughout the course of his day. Whenever he's trying to do anything, the person on duty takes a big 36" by 48" sign with an ad for some crap he doesn't want and pop it up right in his face, completely obscuring his view. If the signs happen to be made of 1/2 inch plywood and occasionally smack him squarely in the nose... Ooops. That will be the eqivalent of the popups with sound, or the ones that are bigger than your display that don't seem to respond to keyboard commands... And, whenever he's trying to write something, we crush his hands with the sign to simulate the ones that pop up while you're in the middle of filling out a form... In all seriousness, I hope he gets the patent and people stop using them. A simple banner is all that's needed to make us aware of your company. Banners don't tend to make me swear a blood oath that I would never ever buy your product after annoying the hell out of me... Are you listening X10? A wireless camera might be fun, but your ads piss me off so much, that I would never ever ever buy one from you. I also think that anyone using popups that are meant to look like geniune system error messages should be told that they have SARS by their doctor... Only to be told later that it was just to get their attention and offer them plane tickets or some similar, unrelated item. "Gee, sorry to frighten you unnecessarily...".
Someday a real rain is gonna come...
i know somebody who is going to hell. enough said.
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
This gives me a good idea. We should all sit around and brainstorm the most annoying advertising schemes we can think of, then patent them, and then when people try to use them, we tell them they are violating our patent and make them stop. This we can shut down the next-generation annoying advertising scheme before they get popular. Brilliant.
Can't be turned off?
Oh, really?
Do they use TCP/IP?
Do they originate from an IP address?
Do they connect to a port on my machine?
Are they played by an application that runs on my machine?
Give me just one out of the four above, and no problemo -- they're dead meat.
"..can't be turned off.."
Yeah, right.
t_t_b
I'm on PJ's "enemies" list! Are you?
Micromedia should have patented all the possible annoyances that comes from their flash format.
Sigh, the patent office really needs stop mindlessly handing patents out and actully do their jobs. I am sick and tired of Joe Sixpack Business getting these obviously invalid patents and are using them as an easy way make money fast by threatening and imtimadating smaller businesses.
I say one of the requrements is that the patent can not be vauge, and has to have a clear english explanation.
Anybody know if the following concepts have patented? If not they should be, and the patent holders should charge prohibitive fees for their use :-)
I think Real Media has already patented the concept of having software take over users' computers by putting pieces of itself in the Start menu, quick launch bar, system tray, desktop, and control panel, all while spying on users.
Microsoft has already patented the concepts of selling bugfixes to customers as "upgrades," and stealing ideas from competitors and calling it "innovation."
"Shuster has a long list of pending patents, including one for pop-up audio ads that cannot be turned off.'"
Ever since I disabled JavaScript and Flash in my default settings, and only add the sites I approve to my Trusted Sites list, I haven't been getting any of this.
No such thing... You can do what ever the hell you want with a computer.. His statement about not being able to stop the audio ad untill its finished is baloney... I have yet to see any software that can not be stopped :) This I can see will promote the use of OS web broswers that have been patched to reconize these ads as Malicious and prevent them from actually play the audio and sned back the confirmation That it was played :) In the software world there are allways options for counter measures available. After all in the mean time... There is allways the power to pull to stop it from playing :)
Who needs WiFi when we can have Packet Over Sheep! http://datacomm.org/PoS-InternetDraft.txt
The port master sees you to your slip and makes sure all things are well in the harbor, but I never mentioned such a person.
Advertising that supports content is useful. The first newspapers published in the US were advert funded. Advertising that exists for it's own sake or that is so obtursive that it's a denial of service attack, is evil. Billboards blot the sky to no useful purpose. Pop-up and blinking banners are attempts to force you to look at things you are not interested in. The makers of these blights would like you to group them in with legitimate publishers. Most people do and respect them all equally, even if they consider them one step above a circus barker. I consider them lower than circus barkers and relish them being associated with smut.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
I use a pretty effective method for blocking popups in internet explorer that requires no extra software. It also has the nice side effect of blocking a good deal of the unpatched IE vulnerabilities. Here's how it works:
1. First download http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/webaccess/pwrt wks.exe. This among a few other tweaks will add an "Add to Trusted Zone" and "Add to Restricted Zone" menu option in your tools menu.
2. Next under Tools->Internet Options->Security configure your Trusted Zone to be the same as your Internet Zone settings.
3. Alter your Internet Zone settings and make it look similar to your Restricted Zone (I.E. I have all javascript, active scripting, etc turned off). I wouldn't make it exactly the same as your restricted zone, because you won't be able to download files and what not.
Now when you browse the web all javascript and active scripting will be turned off by default. This has the effect of blocking all popups. If you come across a site that needs javascript or active scripting in order to be navigated, you just click tools->add to trusted zone and refresh the page.
The one downside to this is if you hit a site that uses active scripting like http://www.cnn.com you'll get a popup from IE indicating that the site uses active scripting and that you have it turned off. However I find this to be much less annoying than popups.
That's good
But patenting a fairly obvious practice is inherintly evil
That's bad
He's also a big figure in the on-line porn industry
That's good
He also has a method for making audio ads that can't be shut off
That's bad
But he has a patent on that too which means most sites won't use them
That's good
He also has a lot of other patents pending
That's bad
Can I go now?
I stole this Sig
Looks like my link moved: You can grab pwrtwks.exe from here: http://www.microsoft.com/Windows/ie/previous/webac cess/pwrtwks.asp
"....including one for pop-up audio ads that cannot be turned off.'"
Wanna bet?? I'll bet you any amount of money on earth that his crap won't work on my Linux box....
Someone should go beat the ever-loving crap out of this sleazebag. "People" (and I use the term loosely) like this guy are the scum of the earth..
In windows click the speaker icon.
A theif patenting a common Java function.
Wouldn't be surprised if his site like the others porn sites consists of stuff they stold from other places online.
If you hate retarded stories making it on the front page of slashdot, you might want to blame michael.
In SOVIET RUSSIA... erm...NSA AMERICA, the Internet logs onto YOU!
if you believe that software patents are bad, then stick buy your guns.
so what if a possible outcome is no more pop-ups?
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Someone might need to go patent the concept of opening an unrequested new browser window. This might be the next solution to those who can't challenge this.
I sware I experenced one "popup" like that, it was the only kind that managed to get through mozilla. I can't find the darn site though, the named their "product" popup(something).
Even though it is an annoyance, all this does is encourage patent abuse.
I would not be surprised if this turns out like all the others, patent a already in use "idea," then use said patent to threaten other businesses that can not aford to defend themselfs.
[requiring text in the comment body is stupid]
this is what you do [accs-net.com], and more precisely and more corresponding to the attitude on this site: RTFM
I can do that - I have the time, the inclination, and the necessary skills. But if you want pop-up ads to stop being financially viable, you'll have to provide a way that works for everybody.
How many people use computers? How many of them can block hosts? What's the best way to improve the ratio? Is it by trying to educate users, or by making the change easier to perform?
Uhm, can this really be true? I mean wouldn't the inventors of the JavaScript Instructions for creating popup windows be the inventors of popup windows? I don't suppose Porn Guy was working at Netscape at the time?
Silly thoughts on saving the web:
If we were all wise and slick and such, we'd think up some of the most annoying ways our browers could be perverted into advertisements and then we would patent them.
Then, to discourage the use of said annoying tactic, ask for exceptionally high per-use licensing fees for the patent.
You'll be interested in this bugzilla entry. They fixed it about a year ago, but since then holes have been punched through ...
One simple rule for its versus it's
Re the parent post:
Is "annoying" intended as a Verb or an Adjective?
Oddly, both possibilities seem to 'work'...
Isn't this already patented by somebody else? - read final comment in this post
Browsers which allow pop-ups (IE) infringe the patent by implementing the required supporting technology
Browsers which block pop-ups (Mozilla, Opera) also infringe the patent by detecting patented code and deliberately not implementing it, plus are guilty of tortiuous interference with a business model, and furthermore are guilty of a DMCA violation.
All your browsers belong to the P0rn master
On a serious point didn't ExitExchange patent the exact same thing
You have more power than the courts and lawmakers: the power of your wallet. If you do not like what your provider forces you to see, take buisness elsewhere.
In the United States, only one or two companies own the copper that carries high-speed residential Internet access in any given town. Few working-class families can afford the $200,000 setup fee to relocate a family to an area served by a different provider.
Will I retire or break 10K?
as webmasters might refrain from using the annoying techniques to avoid paying patent fees. Anyone wants to patent telemarketing?
That's like me trying to patent system(). Dumb.
Shuster has a long list of pending patents, including one for pop-up audio ads that cannot be turned off.'
I think I'll file for a patent on "Honking a truck's horn in a residential area from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m., advertising a sale of one or more goods". I think I could get some license fees for that. To up my income, I will also file for "Yelling at a carefully chosen target group of people at prominent city places until they agree to buy one or more goods".
Jeez. Indeed, leaving the oceans was a bad idea, after all.
"When I first heard Daydream Nation it quite frankly scared the living shit out of me." -- Matthew Stearns
Murdered is not the way this is better. Force feed him 300 Virigra tablets and lock him in a room with an UGLY goat.
Diplomacy is the art of saying "Nice doggie" until you can find a rock. Will Rogers
IMO, the paper equivalent are those magazine subscription form inserts that fall out onto the floor when you browse a magazine in the store. I am pretty sure they do that on purpose because they are rarely glued. Most would ignore them if glued to stay. Is he gonna sue the analog versions also, or is it just pre-pending the "e" that makes it a target (like most dumb web patents: "e" + analogProcess == patentable)?
Table-ized A.I.
And that's just the beginning - Shuster has a long list of pending patents, including one for pop-up audio ads that cannot be turned off.
In other words, he has a patent on a way to exploit a security hole that exists in one or more web browsers. Will he sue browser makers that fix the security hole?
The shareholder is always right.
How is this innovative enough to grant a patent? All popups I've ever come across are HTML/Java/JavaScript On* functions (especially since i've never bothered trying to run he popus software in wine). Sounds like an implementation of code and nothing so "innovative".
Any code that changes my start page, my search page, or makes any changes to my registry without my permission is a malicious piece of code and is illegal. How is modifying my registry to change my start page different from modifying my personal documents? It isn't. People who use such software should go to jail as the vandals and crackers that they are.
Of course, if IE would prevent this kind of thing, it wouldn't be a problem.
Sure, I can picture bent over banner adds on the New York Times. They used to do pop-ups and might still. They would think twice is everyone thought of smut when they thought of pop ups.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
If you hate popups, you probably don't get them, unless you're too dense to try out a mozilla-based browser, an ad-blocking proxy, the kazaa lite HOSTS file, or one of a bunch of other ways to get rid of them.
In short, anyone who truly hates popups doesn't get them, so this whole story is rather redundant.
Oh joy.
It's been a long time.
I OWN MY COMPUTER - its fully 100% a resource of MINE and nobody else. I also PAY for my internet access, by the month.
If he wants to force feed me ads - then he better damn well PAY me. And protect himself while walking around in public.
Given that it is your computer, why are you letting him execute hostile code on your computer? I mean, if you're using Explorer (for example) and your security level is set such that pop-up ads are able to execute, aren't you basically allowing pop-up ads?
Now, rational folks will avoid using Explorer because of that annoying dialog box that informs you that "an active-x control on this page could not be loaded" when you turn scripting off, but the same case holds for Netscape. Pop-ups exploit features that you have turned on. Turn them off, and pop-ups cease to work.
I've browsed for years with javascript turned off, and the only time I'm bombarded with crap (the LA Times is a good example of intrusive advertising) is when I temporarily enable JS to do some banking, and forget to turn it off. In IE, I just set the default to have active scripting off for all sites, and add a few "trusted" sites so scripting is enabled selectively for just those sites.
Think about it. Why do certain sites insist on forcing you to use javascript to browse their sites (ie, latimes.com). To make sure you can experience the full "benefit" of their pop-up/pop-under ads. Solution? Boycott these sites.
With open software you can always find (or write) a browser that just won't play this junk. However, combine this with 'Next-Generation Secure Computing Base' (you really won't own your computer then) and you will someday see the unstoppable porn add from ugga boogga land (a far off country where nothing is regulated). I hope your kids or worse your wife doesn't walk in to the room while this thing goes off! Just try to explain that you didn't go looking for it and it's all a big misunderstanding. One that you can't replicate because the adds for the site you just found keep changing. Good luck and remember to keep your finger on the power switch.
From the article "I've made several $100 million companies with this technology"...and that is why he is trying to make more off his patents. My guess is that this guy is BROKE!
Can I?
How is it that simply using certain features of a programming language are now patentable? I think SUN and the other creaters of javascript would most definitely have prior "pop-up" art on this scheister. Simply during the development and testing of javascript.
"An armed society is a polite society." - Al Capone
This may be slightly off topic, but I have to say that Mozilla's ability to suppress unrequested popups has helped reduce my blood pressure tremendously. I haven't seen an ad for an X10 camera in MONTHS now.
Perhaps this is somewhat redundant, but how exactly do you patent the use of the pop-up ad? Isn't a pop-up a feature of the browser/javascript/html? Did he write the code that browsers use to create a pop-up? The article mentions that the patent covers "computer code" that can âoeinteract with the browser to modify or control one or more of the browser functions". Which browser? What code? Can you really get a patent for writing window.open() in javascript?
The article notes the patent was filed in 1998, however, I find it hard to believe there were no popups prior to 1998.
On the other hand, I suppose the issue is somewhat moot, since I usually go out of my way to avoid buying anything I see advertised via popup. I don't think I'm alone on this.
However, I'm actually interested in seeing what he's trying to patent that creates "audio ads that cannot be turned off". Does it involve him coming to my house and making sure I keep my speakers turned on?
But I wasn't expecting to have you advertise your new ISP to me when reading your thread. You've now taken up my valuable time and I request monetary compensation since I wasn't asked.
Don't visit sites that use pop-ups? Great. How? I've *never* seen a site that warned me that they were going to launch pop-ups on my computer. They just do it with no warning and without asking permission. Even sites you've visited before may launch a pop-up next time you visit, since sites don't normally generate a pop-up 100% of the time.
such that the user is directed to a predesignated site or page, instead of accessing the site or page typically associated with the selected browser function.
AKA: E-Hijacking
Table-ized A.I.
I hate this patent crap, it would be like a dream come true to be able to personally kill one...
I was thinking more of a host list that you simply point the browser to and the list is managed and updated by the host site. All the user would have to do is tell the browser which items to block from the servers on the list (images, cookies, popups, flash apps, etc.)
This might be good for web surfers annoyed with pop-ups since the patent might stop some websites from using them and maybe webhosting companies will halt services to their customers still using them in fear of a lawsuit.
At the same time, a lot of websites depend on pop-ups to keep their websites up as an only form of revenue.
I'm suprised no one can claim prior art on this.
Although, if someone can find a way to patent spam the internet might finally be a better place.
I OWN MY COMPUTER
:)
IN SOVIET RUSSIA, the computer owns you
asdadsadasdasddadasdasd
Finding out where this guy lives and break a kneecap or two? ;)
Comment removed based on user account deletion
what idiot approved this patent? The several 100 years of prior art.
This guy should be jailed but the person who approved his patent should executed at noon by any one of my patented project launcing devices (slingshot, bow and arrow, gun, canon, etc, - I 0\/\/N them all).
Why aren't we interviewing him?
It spys on you, therefore it is Spyware. Uninstallability has nothing to do with it, especially given that 99% of people installed it unintentionally.
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
After the alan ralsky snail mail spamming they would learn....
Slashdot - The one stop shop for procrastination
My sound card crapped itself yesterday. :)
Now I'm glad it did.
When the revolution comes, his kind will be first against the wall.
patents are bad. Slashdot is good.
And what are these popups? I don't see any. All I read is slashdot.
VIVA1023.com | Political Fashion.
Okay, while I am hoping that this does keep many sites from using so many damn pop-ups, I really don't think there should be a patent for it. Pop-ups were something built into the code, the coders, if anyone, should control their use. It's a lot like amazon's attempted patents a while back.
...anything can be turned off!
Use the source, Luke!
There are 3 things you need to do:
1) Use Mozilla.
2) Disable unrequested pop ups.
3) Get my userContent.css for Mozilla here:
http://dion.swamp.dk/stuff/ when installed it will autmagically and quickly remove all ads in pages, including all flash except where you really want it.
-- To dream a dream is grand, but to live it is divine. -- Leto ][
Well, that's a good basis for a discussion.
NOT!