Pop-ups bounce back
Published: 07 Jun 2004 11:30 BST
In January, Paul Haigh downloaded Google's toolbar to dispel annoying pop-up ads. By March, they were back.
Google's pop-up blocker, included as part of the Web search engine's popular browser plug-in, "worked fantastically well for about two months, blocking everything," said Haigh, a photographer from the United Kingdom. "Then the odd pop-up started to appear, mainly on highly ad-displaying sites based in the United States."
"I know they are on the increase because they are annoying me again," he said, adding that he's received three this week.
Pop-up purveyors are finding ways around popular new filters that aim to stomp them out, the latest sign of an Internet arms race over one of the most effective and controversial Web advertising formats around.
Google, America Online, Yahoo, EarthLink, Microsoft and a slew of niche software developers have begun offering consumers easy-to-install, free blocking software. As much as 30 percent of the Internet population uses a pop-up guard, according to estimates from ad technology companies. That number is set to soar when Microsoft releases an update to its Windows XP operating system later this summer that is expected to include a pop-up blocker for its Internet Explorer Web browser, which serves about nine in 10 people who surf the Web.
Because IE so thoroughly dominates the browser market, ad executives and Internet watchers believe the changes could finally burst the bubble for pop-ups.
But marketers intent on preserving and extending the lucrative format have already developed workarounds that are duping existing blockers, setting the stage for a major battle for control over consumer PC screens.
"Relatively quickly (IE) will displace all other pop-up blockers, then people will try to figure out how to get around that," said Richard Smith, a privacy and security expert.
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3 comments
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If you have a lot of pop-ups, try this cure: Mozil... Gilbert Godin -
Vote with your money, if a company uses pop-up/und... Chris
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Agree with the above post. Use Mozilla Firefox. Kikki Bona Sijabat
