Articles on the web (some links are dead)

Web ad blocking may not be (entirely) legal
The article looks at the possibile arguments for a lawsuit against ad blocking, precedent, and the likelihood of such a suit. It claims that 2.5 million people use Adblock Plus.
CNET September 14, 2007

Who blocks the (ad) blockers?
The author argues that blocking ads on websites is theft of resources. It is worse than skipping TV ads because website operators incur expenses for users that don’t generate revenue by viewing ads. See also Slashdot thread.
CNET September 11, 2007

Browser makers warned against ad-blocking
An executive from DoubleClick warns that if browsers default to blocking ads it could be the end of free content. See also Slashdot thread.
ZDNet Australia June 23, 2005

Say Goodbye (again) to Pop-Ups!
Developers of the Firefox browser are working to block the new generation of pop-up ads enabled by Flash and Java. See also Slashdot Thread.
Adot’s Notblog March 31, 2005

The Return Of The Pop-Up Ad
New techniques are managing to get pop-up ads around the pop-up blockers.
Slashdot February 20, 2005

Tool Fights Pop-Up Ad Blockers
Falk eSolutions AG plans to offer software that detects pop-up/under ad blocking and serves ads in other formats to thwart blocking. See also Slashdot thread.
eWeek April 27, 2004

Norton’s Firewall Blocks Pay Per Click Search Engine Advertising
Norton Internet Security 2004 has ad-blocking enabled by default, which makes ads from Google unclickable.
Search Engine Journal March 16, 2004

Pop-ups take new battering
Research shows that pop-up advertising can do serious harm to brands. 14% of online customers now use ad-blocking software to stop pop-ups.
netimperative February 24, 2004

InterMute’s AdSubtract Thwarts 25 Billionth Internet Ad
InterMute claims in this press release that its AdSubract software has blocked 25 billion ads.
Business Wire February 23, 2004

As Consumers Revolt, a Rush to Block Pop-Up Online Ads
Estimates that 20-25% of users have pop-up blocking enabled. Doubleclick is developing technology that will enable pop-up ads to evade the blocking software. See also Slashdot thread.
New York Times January 19, 2004

Judge Downs Pop-Ups in Contrary Decision
Due to trademark infringement, a judge granted a preliminary injunction against adware company WhenU from displaying pop-up ads for Vision Direct when users visit the 1-800 Contacts website.
InternetNews.com December 23, 2003

Software tool smothers sponsored search
AdSubtract 3.0 will include a tool to suppress sponsored search results, in spite of the fact that a survey from Nielsen/NetRatings found that 24 percent of people think sponsored search results are more useful than regular search results, and about 51 percent thought they were just as useful as noncommercial listings.
CNET News.com November 14, 2003

IE 6.05, Pop-Up Ad Blocking to Debut in Windows XP SP2
Internet Explorer with ad blocking to be released in first half of 2004.
Connected Home November 7, 2003

Norton Antivirus 2004 Ad Blocking - Tough Call?
A website owner expresses concern about ad blocking impacting his business. Refers to ad blocking in Norton Antivirus but maybe it is actually Norton Internet Security.
Slashdot November 5, 2003

Court says Gator-style ads are legal
A federal court ruled that pop-up ads for rivals of U-Haul placed atop the company’s site by WhenU.com are legal. See also Slashdot thread.
CNET News.com July 1, 2003

Landmark settlement prunes online ads
Lawsuit against Bonzi Software Inc. was settled. They agreed to no longer run ads that look deceptively like modal dialog boxes. See also Slashdot thread.
Toronto Star May 28, 2003

Documentation of Gator Advertisements and Targeting
A Harvard researcher’s analysis of Gator’s ad targeting, which allows you to see what ads Gator is displaying as users browse various websites. See also CNET News.com article and Slashdot thread.
Benjamin Edelman May 2003

Robach bill goes after spam
A bill proposed in NY to stop spam includes a requirement that users be able to disable pop-up ads.
Democrat & Chronicle May 21, 2003

In Ads They Trust?
PlanetFeedback survey finds only 8% of consumers trust banner ads and only 2% trust pop-up ads (compare to 42% for TV). 83% find pop-up ads annoying.
BizReport April 25, 2003

AOL Adds Pop-Up Ad Blocking
AOL follows EarthLink’s lead by providing a pop-up blocker.
PC Magazine March 13, 2003

Web Ad-venture; Internet sites pursue ways to stay free, make money
Statistics and trends related to online advertising.
Oakland Tribune March 2, 2003

Web publishers settle with Gator
Seven publishers that sued Gator over pop-up ads that it displayed when users visited their site have settled out of court.
CNET News.com February 7, 2003

Search and Destroy
A review of Gator’s history and the legal cases against it.
Law.com January 16, 2003

Gator takes bite out of search engines
Gator has begun displaying pop-under ads with results from Overture and other paid search results when a user enters a query on sites like Google and Yahoo.
ZDNet News January 15, 2003

Ask Jeeves giving up banner ads
Ask Jeeves drops banner advertising in favor of paid search results, saying “I think banners have seen their day.”
Contra Costa Times January 4, 2003

Building a Better Pop-Up Ad
FPBA Group’s technology displays ads in the browser window while the user waits for the next page to load.
AtNewYork.com January 2, 2003

Pop-ups add new twist
New pop-ups feature “kick through,” which takes the user to the advertisers site if they merely move the mouse over the ad.
CNET News.com December 20, 2002

Are Pop-Ups Doomed?
A brief mention of Netscape Navigator 7.01 pop-up blocking plus various details on pop-up effectiveness and demand.
AtNewYork.com December 17, 2002

Bonzi Class Action
A class action lawsuit was filed against Bonzi Software for fraudulent banner ads that impersonated computer error messages. Also see the Slashdot thread.
Lukins & Annis November 25, 2002

Salon: Watch ad, read articles for free
Salon is allowing users to access its premium articles for free if they sit through a four-page commercial first.
CNET News.com November 20, 2002

Locking Down the Pop-up Perps
The author argues that pop-up ads should be regulated by the same laws as computer viruses since they access the computer without authorization and cause damage.
BusinessWeek November 20, 2002

Gator Hit With Another Lawsuit
Hotel-chain operator Six Continents is the latest company to sue Gator for serving pop-up advertisements of competitors that covered its Web site.
Internet Advertising Report November 15, 2002

Reining in pop-ups
A review of companies that have eliminated pop-up ads due to user irritation.
Seattle Post Intelligencer November 6, 2002

UPS sues Gator over pop-up delivery
UPS, like a group of newspaper publishers before it, filed a lawsuit to stop Gator from displaying ads when people visit the UPS website.
ZDNet October 3, 2002

United Parcel Service sues Gator to stop ‘pop-up’ ads
UPS is suing Gator to stop it from displaying ads, sometimes for its largest competitors, when users visit the UPS website..
The Detroit News October 2, 2002

New Software Quietly Diverts Sales Commissions
Money is being diverted from small websites by software that intercepts affiliate referrals and credits them to the software maker.
You must register on NYTimes.com to read this article.
NT Times September 27, 2002

Pop-ups strike out with Internet advertisers
The usual survey of sites cutting down on pop-up ads. Says Amazon and BarnesandNoble.com are cutting down too. Claims some companies advertise with pop-ups because they have been “shut out of other avenues.”
Washington Times September 9, 2002

Pop, Pop, Pop Go Those Web Ads
Report from Nielsen//NetRatings shows 1.3 billion pop-up/unders during first 7 months of 2002, but only 9.2% of online advertisers using the format. Pop-Up Stopper claims 5 million downloads and Intermute thinks AdSubtract blocks a billion ads per month.
Wired September 6, 2002

Pop-ups are about to get a lot more offensive
Statistics from a Nielsen//NetRatings on pop-ups, and a USBancorp Piper Jaffray analyst says tolerance for pop-ups will increase.
Silicon.com September 6, 2002

An Ad-Free Web Might Be a Barren Place
Experience with Earthlink’s pop-up blocker. Why Internet advertising has had trouble, and what the Web will be like if advertising can’t be made to succeed.
Washington Post August 22, 2002

It’s war on Web pop-up ads
Earthlink releases pop-up blocker. Says users are willing to tolerate 3 pop-ups per hour, so a balance must be found.
Pioneer Press August 21, 2002

Pop-up ad blocker from Earthlink
Earthlink’s latest upgrade, called TotalAccess 2003, includes pop-up blocking. The move targets unhappy AOL users.
Geek.com August 20, 2002

EarthLink joins movement to kill pop-up ads
Earthlink now provides pop-up blocking. Also reviews other recent develpments in the trend away from pop-up ads.
USA Today August 19, 2002

Dodging pop-ups with Mozilla
Netscape 7.0 will not include the pop-up ad blocking feature that has been so popular in Mozilla 1.0. Also see the Slashdot thread
CNET News.com August 14, 2002

Are Pop-Up Advertisements on the Web Illegal?
A look at the lawsuit against Gator by a group of newspapers, and possible ramifications.
GigaLaw August 2002

Web Ad Explosion
Sleazy online ad tactics, such as mouse-over downloads and homepage hijacking, and how some major corporations are supporting such advertising without even knowing it.
PC World September 2002

interMute Expands ‘Block’ Party
interMute has partnered with application publisher and distributor ValueSoft to achieve wider distribution of its AdSubtract software.
Boston.Internet.com August 8, 2002

Taking the air out of pop-ups
Websites that are eliminating or cutting back on pop-up ads: iVillage, AOL, InfoSpace’s Webcrawler.
ZDNet August 2, 2002

iVillage Drops Pop-up Ads
Does iVillage’s removal of pop-up ads, in response to user complaints, hint at a new direction for the ad industry?
AdAge July 30, 2002

Pop Go Those Blasted Pop-Up Ads, iVillage Decrees
iVillage will remove the majority of pop-up ads from its site after a survey showed that 92.5 percent of iVillage women found pop-up advertising to be the most frustrating feature of the Web.
You must register on NYTimes.com to read this article.
NY Times July 29, 2002

Judge Clamps Down On Gator
A federal judge granted a temporary injunction prohibiting Gator from displaying pop-up ads on the complaining publishers’ websites.
AtNewYork.com July 12, 2002

Publishers Sue Gator Over Web Ad Tactics
A group of Web publishers filed a lawsuit against Gator for selling ads on their websites without permission. Weight Watchers won a similar case against DietWatch for using Gator to display DietWatch ads to visitors of the Weight Watchers site. Also see the Slashdot thread.
Washington Post June 27, 2002

Puncturing Web Ads Before They Pop Up
Overview of the increasing intrusiveness of ads, and the options for blocking them (especially pop-ups)
You must register on NYTimes.com to read this article.
New York Times June 27, 2002

Pop-ups slowly being tolerated by Web users
While some people click on pop-up ads, are such ads worth the negative sentiment they generate for other users?
The Orange County Register June 24, 2002

Pop-under ads may hit publisher wallets
ExitExchange’s patent application has been published. If it is approved, the company could collect royalties on pop-under ads.
CNET News.com June 3, 2002

Less is More: ASCII Might Trump Rich Media in the World of Online Advertising
Plain text ads are being adopted by several sites instead of bulky graphical ads. Click-through rates are currently much higher than traditional banner ads.
EContent May 2002

Ad blocking blocked
AfterDawn.com justifies the steps it is taking to prohibit users of ad-blocking software from accessing its site.
AfterDawn.com May 15, 2002

eBay to serve up pop-ups
With ad revenue dropping from 13% of total revenue to 8% in one quarter, eBay will begin displaying pop-up ads.
CNET News.com May 10, 2002

It’s an Ad, Ad, Ad, Ad World
An overview of the evolution of online advertising and ad blocking, and a comparison of some ad-blocking software. The last page discusses whether or not it is ethical to block ads.
PC World May 2002

Pittman faces hard-sell ad dilemma
AOL faces falling ad revenue as advertising contracts come up for renewal. In an effort to maintain customer loyalty, AOL may cut back on pop-up advertisements.
CNET News.com April 19, 2002

The Internet sells its soul
A typical review of more aggressive advertising, pay for placement in search engines, and subscription fees. Mentions a pop-up ad that runs away when the user tries to close it.
Economist April 16, 2002

Pardon Me, Would You Care to View This Ad?
In contrast to increasingly intrusive advertising that attempts to prod the user into immediate action, experiments with Banner Console from iLOR show that users are very responsive to ads that give them flexibility to respond at their convenience.
ClickZ April 15, 2002

Web surfers brace for pop-up downloads
Pop-up downloads are an aggressive new form of advertising that attempts to download and install software onto your computer. Users may mistake the download for a plug-in that is necessary to use the site that is running the ad, when they are actually downloading something like Gator. These ads are being run by the L90 ad network. Also see the Slashdot thread.
CNET News.com April 8, 2002

New online ads float, flash and can’t be clicked off
New ad formats such as “floating” ads obscure the page the user is trying to view for a period of time. Opinions on the format from advertisers and site owners.
SF Gate April 2, 2002

Made You Look
A brief look at new ad formats like “floating ads” and “cursor ads” that can be hard for blocking software to detect.
Kiplinger’s April 2002

Pop-Up Ads, Part 2: Usage Guidelines for Legitimate Marketers
Advice on using pop-ups in light of their negative reputation. Notes that animated pop-ups may perform worse than static ones.
ClickZ March 21, 2002

Pop-Up Ads, Part 1: Good? Bad? Ugly?
A study by Dynamic Logic shows that users are more tolerant of pop-ups than previously thought.
ClickZ March 14, 2002

Brought to you by….
The evolution and future of online advertising, its effectiveness, and the need for better targeting.
Computer User March 2002

In Search Engine Arms Race, Google Raises User Experience Bar
Google is troubled by users thinking scumware pop-ups are from its site. Also, on badly implemented pop-up and pop-under ads. Gator identifies itself on ads.
ClickZ February 1, 2002

Is it an ad, or is it editorial?
Ineffective banner ads and a tough economy have caused some online publishers to blurr the line between content and advertising.
Associated Press January 31, 2002

Software blocks deluge of pop-ups
The rising popularity of software for blocking pop-up ads. Options for pop-up blocking in the Opera Browser. Gator response rates.
USA Today January 28, 2002