Microsoft Patents the Mother of All Adware

An anonymous reader writes "Ars Technica has an article on the mother of all adware patents filed by Microsoft: 'It's such a tremendously bad idea that it's almost bound to succeed. Microsoft has filed another patent, this one for an "advertising framework" that uses "context data" from your hard drive to show you advertisements and "apportion and credit advertising revenue" to ad suppliers in real time.' Ars discusses this disturbing concept, which was originally unearthed by Information Week and we first discussed last week."

Comments

No

[InvisblePinkUnicorn]

According to TFA:

"The software would also free advertising from its traditional browser yoke. "A word processor may display a banner ad along the top of a window, similar to a toolbar, while a graphical ad may be displayed in a frame associated with the application. A digital editor for photos or movies may support video-based advertisements," the patent application says.

So no, Adblock in its current form wouldn't do squat.

Re:Oh no!

[trolltalk.com]

"Oh no! My Windows machine screen is full up with porn advertisements"

You mean that their "ad framework" is an unpatched copy if Internet Explorer? I think there's a LOT of prior art on that one, from drive-by installs, malware, viruses, trojans, etc.

Re:"Context data"

[creepynut]

That's ok, anyone who was a real Empornium member has moved onto Cheggit.net since Targetpoint bought E. ... so I've been told.