To paraphrase Yoda, "Begun, the Ad Wars have.."

[SirFozzie]

Apparently (and I say APPARENTLY, it hasn't been confirmed by outside sources yet) the idiotic and moronic assholes at DoubleClick haven't figured out that people enable the AdBlock extention in FireFox for a reason. That reason is...

WE DON'T WANT ANY F*CKING DOUBLECLICK ADVERTISEMENTS!

If this story is true (and if it's not I'd apologize to DoubleClick, but I'd much rather punch the scumweasels right in the mouth if I ever met em)... DoubleClick is now using some kind of Javascript trick/exploit in FF to blank out AdBlock, which of course, then opens you up for any advertisement the misbegotted sons of motherless goats wish to shove down your throat.

Sometimes I wish there was a net version of the Old West Code, you know of, people who "Deserved Killin'".. if it was not a severe crime, the advertising f*cksticks at DoubleClick would be DDoS'd off the net so much, they'd feel it for years.

Of course, I have a feeling this isn't true, because I think this has crossed over the line into outright criminality...

The post describing what happened (http://www.livejournal.com/community/mozilla/241198.html)

[Ragone]

I once shot a man for snoring too loud

[JonInMiddleGA]

I'm not even sure I know WTF you said, and I'm almost certain that I don't know what the bloggers said ... but I'm pretty sure I don't like it.

Somewhere around the part about where their scripts tinker with my computer & its settings, without my permission.

[SirFozzie]

Ok.. ranty ravey Foz-time over. Let me explain it calmly.

Doubleclick is a company that makes money by dropping invisible files on you (called cookies.. most are benign, they can hold things like your UN/PW, so say you don't have to log in to FOFC every time you visit) that track where you go, what sites you view, etcetera. This allows them to serve up ads that you have more of a chance of buying (and therefore, worth more to the advertisers).

There is an add-on for Mozilla and FireFox called AdBlock. Basically, you give it Domain names.. and when you load a page, it blocks requests to those domains.. (so for example, if you added doubleclick.net to AdBlock, whenever you visited a page that attempted to load a doubleclick ad (and the tracking cookie), it will deny it, IE, not load it.

What this exploit does, apparently, is take your list of DENY sites.. and wipes it out. Oops.. no more adblock.. let the ads roll in..

[Draft Dodger]

I manage to avoid all online advertising; I stopped using the internet altogether. it's great.

[SirFozzie]

Oh.. there's ways around it. For example, a change to your hosts file and/or adding to a thing on your router, would basically pretend doubleclick and it's scumhole subsidiaries don't exist on the internet (send all requests for that site off into the ether ;)).

One of my hot buttons is Right To Privacy. The Right To Be Left Alone. If I'm not hurting anyone, or breaking the law, what I'm doing is NONE of their business.

Most of the net agrees, as well.. most spyware programs will remove doubleclick and its ilk wherever they see it.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Ok.. ranty ravey Foz-time over. Let me explain it calmly.


Psst ... Fozzie ... it's me, Jon.

I didn't want anyone else to hear me because it might be, well ... awkward,
but ... I pretty much got the gist of it. I know from DoubleClick (evil spawns of Satan that they are) and I know cookies & stuff. It was just that, between your initial rant-mode and the techno-gobbeldy of the blog, it was just enough to make me wonder whether I was following along as well as I should be.

No biggie, I just figured I ought to explain a little.

[Maple Leafs]

I'm a firm believer in the right of online businesses to make money, including by advertising products. I'd prefer if those were targetted somehow, rather than random, but I think anyone who posts something of value on the web deserves to be paid what the market will support, however that might be.

Still... sweet jumping jesus, they're disabling pop-up blockers now? What a bunch of dinks!

[SirFozzie]

heh. Wasn't aimed at you Jon.. more like the average person that poked their head in, and said "What's that moron Foz blabbering on about now???"

[SirFozzie]

I'm a firm believer in the right of online businesses to make money, including by advertising products. I'd prefer if those were targetted somehow, rather than random, but I think anyone who posts something of value on the web deserves to be paid what the market will support, however that might be.

Still... sweet jumping jesus, they're disabling pop-up blockers now? What a bunch of dinks!


My opinion.. ads on a website? No problem. they do have to pay for bandwidth and stuff, and free doesn't exactly pay the bills, ya know? It's the tracking that pisses me off royally. There is no contract stating that I have to give them the right to track my surfing in return for access... you know why? If there was, nobody would agree to it!

Instead, they're one step about virus writers, and try to sneak it in without telling you, hoping that you won't notice.

[Desnudo]

heh. Wasn't aimed at you Jon.. more like the average person that poked their head in, and said "What's that moron Foz blabbering on about now???"

I figured you'd gone on another tree-punching spree.

[SirFozzie]

Nope. Trees are safe. Scum-sucking marketingdroids however.. *toothy evil grin*

[Alan T]

I hate when television stations use pop up ads... It always makes me drop my coke :(

[bbor]

I once shot a man for snoring too loud

Thank god i don't live with you :)

[AZSpeechCoach]

Man, I thought I was the only one to call someone a son of a motherless goat. Now I have to find another insult.