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Submitted by: Bill Hickey
NCVA List Master

NRT-0291 Firefox Ad-Blocker Extension Causes Angst:

A web site owner has blocked Firefox users from accessing his site in protest of a popular browser extension that blocks text and display ads. Firefox users who go to http://jacklewis.net/weblog/ are now redirected to "Why Firefox is Blocked," which says the Adblock Plus extension undercuts web sites dependant on advertising revenue. The owner writes that he can't block only the Firefox users that have the extension installed, so he's blocking all Firefox users since it's "the only alternative." He has also posted PHP and JavaScript code that can be used to block Firefox users from viewing a web page. The conflict underscores the dilemma facing web sites that make money through advertising and offer free content to users. Adblock is just one of a variety of free tools, such as the Hosts file, that block the delivery of ads from servers run by ad networks. The Hosts file can be employed to block ads for browsers such as Microsoft's Internet Explorer. Browsers can also be tweaked to block ads through modification of a CSS file, which contains rules on how content is displayed in a browser.

(IDG News Service 23AUG07)

Last Modified: Saturday, 08-Sep-2007 08:00:10 EDT