Net Soup: Frank Beacham
Those Annoying Pop-Under Ads (And How to Stop Them)
 They
came out of the blue. One, then another, suddenly a swarm. Like
aggressive flies assaulting the comfort of a summer evening. Here
come the pop-under ads, the latest electronic pests of the Internet.
Annoyance over these stealth Web pages has quickly become a favorite
topic of Netizens. In fact, here in New York City, disdain for pop-unders
is beginning to steal thunder from obnoxious cellphone users and
those shrill prerecorded seat-belt warnings in taxi cabs.
Just as we're asking "Can they legally do this?" comes the awful
news that these pushy ads might actually work. Jupiter Media Metrix,
the research firm, recently reported that one of the most egregious
purveyors of pop-under ads – X10.com,
a consumer electronics retailer – is now the fourth most visited
Web site on the Internet (just behind AOL, Microsoft and Yahoo).
Pop-unders, for those who don't know yet, are advertisements that
– without your permission – plant themselves under Web
pages on your computer screen. A variation of the obnoxious pop-up
pitches made famous by America Online, this new breed of ad quietly
lurks in the background until you stumble into it after closing
the foreground pages.
Thankfully, some degree of comeuppance may be in store for the
aggressive marketers who are using this new guerrilla technique.
Although Jupiter Media Metrix found that pop-under ad campaigns
generate mass reach online, they apparently fail to convert browsers
to buyers.
The data shows that although X10.com
reached 32.8 percent of the Web's entire audience between January
2001 and May 2001, the company also experienced a large traffic
drop-off, with 73 percent of unique visitors leaving the site or
window in less than 20 seconds.
"Looking only at reach, it would appear that X10.com
has deployed an incredibly successful campaign," said Marissa Gluck,
senior analyst at Jupiter Media Metrix. "However, consumer behavior
tells a different story. As advertisers become increasingly intrusive
online, consumers react just as they do with their TV remote control
– they eliminate advertising they don't find relevant or entertaining.
That's what's happening with X10.com."
"SAFE AND LEGAL" ADVERTISING
The ads have made a household name of X10 Wireless Technology
Inc., based in Seattle, Wash. The company did not respond to our
request for an interview. However, since so many Web users end up
at X10's site,
the company posted a FAQ page devoted to explaining its use of the
controversial pop-under technology (http://www.X10.com/X10ads.htm).
"You may have recently seen an X10.com
advertisement appear on your computer while surfing the Internet.
These ads are unique in that they appear as a new window. They are
100 percent safe and 100 percent legal," the company contends.
X10, however,
makes no claims that the ads aren't 100 percent annoying. "As the
Internet is growing and evolving very quickly so are the ways and
means of advertising online. A few years ago, the standard 468 x
60 'rectangle' ads at the top of Web sites were very new. Many people
were uncomfortable with these ads but with time, people got used
to the ads," X10
tells visitors.
"In the last year many different sizes and styles of ads have
been used to try to add more value to the advertiser. X10.com
is simply using a new form of advertising. Please try to understand
that this type of advertising is what keeps the Internet enjoyable
as it pays for operational costs behind the sites you enjoy visiting
for free. There are some content-based sites that do not accept
advertising, yet charge a subscription fee to view their content.
This tradeoff is the current environment of the Internet today."
Once again, X10
uses the familiar argument that if the Internet is to remain "free,"
advertising must remain unfettered. It's the same pitch made last
year by Kevin O'Connor, chairman and CEO of DoubleClick, in response
to the outcry over his company's well-publicized dossier-building
activities on Internet users.
O'Connor went so far as to argue that advertising targeted to
the "preferences and habits of consumers" is essential. Without
these personalized ads, and the subsequent loss of privacy required
to deliver them, he claimed, "Web sites will have to begin charging
consumers" for access.
These arguments are designed to invoke fear. However, they ignore
the history and original promise of the Internet. It was public
funding, not advertising, that originally built the network. It
was created, not as a medium of commerce, but as a public resource
for interactive communications. It was the Internet's noncommercial
attributes that made it a success. Only after it was built and already
immensely popular, did the commercialization rush begin.
FIGHTING BACK
Now, as a spate of ill-conceived Web ventures are failing, some
Internet entrepreneurs, in desperation, have turned to pop-unders,
an ad technology originally conceived by the online pornography
industry. The law may allow it, but the good news is that Web users
can fight back.
The key to blocking most pop-under (and "up") ads, it appears,
is to disable JavaScript on your Web browser. Doing this universally,
however, prevents certain types of sites – such as online banking
– from performing properly. The trick is to disable JavaScript
selectively on a site-by-site basis. It was David Lerner, proprietor
of Tekserve, the New York City Apple Computer specialist, that helped
me find a realistic solution to block the ads when he passed on
this URL: http://user.berlin.de/~Stefan.Ram/consoles_pop-up_windows_screens.html.
In it, I found an answer that can reduce the ad plague for both
Mac and Windows users.
In a nutshell, using browser preferences creates a "security zone"
around offending sites. Within this zone, you can selectively disable
JavaScript for the specific sites whose ads you wish to block. On
Internet Explorer 5.0 for Macintosh, I went to "Preferences," selected
"Security Zones," and then selected "Restricted Sites Zone." I then
entered the custom settings panel and disabled scripting, plug-ins
and Active X controls. Then I selected "Add Sites" and listed the
URLs of those sites that send me the ads.
Bingo, it worked. This virtual flyswatter zapped the pests dead!
Frank Beacham is a New York City-based writer and producer. His
Web site is at www.beacham.com.
E-mail: frank@beacham.com
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