NoScript Adds Subscriptions To Adblock Plus

hahiss writes "Apparently, NoScript has taken to adding its own whitelist updates to Adblock Plus — so that the ads on the NoScript page show up — without notifying users. (It is described on the NoScript addon page, however.) This was a part of the last update to NoScript. Wladimir Palant, the main developer of Adblock Plus, describes the situation in an informative blog post." Update — 5/02 at 12:30 GMT by SS: Reader spyrochaete notes that "InformAction, makers of the NoScript extension for Firefox, have removed the recently introduced AdBlock exceptions which unblocked the revenue-producing ads on the NoScript homepage with little or no warning to the user. According to the changelog, InformAction pushed out an update specifically addressing this controversial decision 'permanently and with no questions asked.'"

Comments

Links are helpful

[ianweller]

Maybe you should link to the "informative" blog post on Adblock Plus's blog.

Re:Links are helpful

[telchine]

I must admit I don't have much expertise in this area. I've never used either Adblock or Noscript.

However...

From what I can see, this issue will only affect you if you have both Noscript (adware) and AdBlock (adblocker) installed on your machine. Everyone else will be unaffected.

Surely if you give an extension permission to run on your machine then you accept the terms & conditions that come with it. In this case, it means receiving ads. If you are a bit naive then you'll likely have some kind of adware scanner installed on your machine, which presumably alerts you to NoScript's adware status when you install it.

It's not like this is a website here, it's a specific extension that you have to specifically install on your machine! Should you really expect AdBlock to block more than just ads on websites, are you supposed to expect it to block ads from adware that you've installed voluntarily on your own machine?

From what I can see, it seems that AdBlock have been investing a lot of time and money in an arms race with Noscript. perhaps they should just accept that adware is out of their juristiction and concentrate on improving their software which is focussed on blocking ads on web sites?

AdBlock "Plus" vs regular AdBlock

[IBitOBear]

(If I recall correctly) When the AdBlock Plus guy started out, he started out by sealing the Adblock name and then spaming negative reviews (etc) at the original AdBlock until he got the original AdBlock guy to just quit out of disinterest having to mess with the scammer-like behavior. I am not at all surprised that now AdBlock Plus is titting-for-tat with someone else. It is Ego Ware after all. If it weren't he would never have tried to undermine the (simpler and better) AdBlock by gaming the reviews.

Of course that's just how I remember the whole thing. I never visit the AdBlock Plus page and I am deliberately blind to most ads anyway. Why would anybody ever need to go to the page anyway? I click the close-tab icon on add-in update pages the way I click buttions that say "Accept", qickly and with deliberate intent not to allow any of the content into my awareness. Both are after the fact, both add nothing to the software in question, and as a matter of policy I refuse to "come to a meeting of the mind" with anybody who attempts to compel or curtail my behavior.

Re:A word from a NoScript Forum Moderator

[Deanalator]

somebody mod this up please

Re:Really Smart

[mysidia]

Advertisers don't care.. they don't pay for the impression, as you say.

But site operators care a lot, they still pay for the bandwidth consumed by that hit.