Adblock Plus and (a little) more

Safer Internet Day · 2014-02-11 17:28 by Ben Williams

“Let’s create a better Internet together.”

That’s the motto of Safer Internet Day, an initiative happening today to encourage safe use of web technology, particularly among kids.

We support Safer Internet Day, and we’re using the occasion to show parents how they can use Adblock Plus as one of many tools to ensure a safer Internet for their kids. Children cannot always differentiate between advertisements and editorial content. For this reason they occasionally click on ads, which take them to adult content or result in an inadvertent purchase that mom and dad see when the bill comes in the mail a few months later.

Using Adblock Plus prevents annoying and intrusive advertising, mitigating the risk that children will accidentally land in places intended for adults, like dating or gaming sites. Additionally, we offer an anti-tracking tool for those concerned with privacy as well as an anti-malware solution that guards the old home PC against viruses, Trojan horses, worms, spy- and adware.

Comment [6]

1. Mantas · 2014-02-12 11:49 · #

   Yes. Especially the kind of ads I’ve been seeing on my phone recently. Auto-downloading .apk’s (usually Mobogenie), auto-redirecting to fake “Your phone is infected” pages, all in perfectly legitimate websites that children are very likely to visit. (Ironically, haven’t seen a single malicious ad on porn sites yet…)

2. LorenzoC · 2014-02-12 13:20 · #

   Considering Mozilla has just announced they are going to “make user experience richer and more meaningful” by showing relevant geo-located sites and advertisement from sponsors in Firefox “new tab” page, the semi-speed-dial-mode, I guess the whole topic is rather ironic.

   I don’t know if cry or laugh at the idea these people have they can make my life richer and more meaningful and that they don’t feel ashamed to even say it.

   You don’t need to stab people in the back to be evil, it is worse when it comes to brain washing. That is basically the root of the whole advertisement concept.

3. neal · 2014-02-13 17:35 · #

   @LorenzoC , just to put it in perspective, it is a industry standard, I see it in the Opera browser for example. While chrome doesn’t do the same thing, they do prompt users to sign in, and use the Chrome app store, which monetizes users. Then don’t get me started on mobile, which is a cesspool with all those reskins like Dolphin Browser.

   I think everybody at Mozilla is nervous about the dynamic of Google funding 90 percent of the budget.
   I think the ads will ok if they follow 2 criteria.
   1) 100 percent safe ads. New firefox install often coincide with new computers that are not yet fully patched thus vulnerable
   2) have a way to turn it off clearly explained and accessible. Not in some about config preferences.

4. LorenzoC · 2014-02-15 14:35 · #

   What perspective?
   “industry standard” is about providing crap to people while convincing them it is chocolate through 24/7 media campaign. “industry standard” is about the user as an idiot who need software to be “dumbed down” at his/her idiotic level. “industry standard” is to sell “role models” like you own the latest gadget you are part of a cool elite. “industry standard” (since ever) is about changing the Internet in something else where people are just service consumers/subscribers.

   Mozilla should be a no-profit foundation, then it should not be part of “the industry”, on the contrary, it should go against the mainstream, when/if it is in the best interest of people.

   But besides this, Mozilla is asking me to pay for their “new mobile ecosystem” as Firefox user. Why don’t they ask mobile gadgets users to found the mobile ecosystem instead? I told you, because they know nobody who use mobile gadgets care or know what Mozilla is and what is trying to accomplish.

   I will wait and see but once Mozilla becomes part of the “industry” I don’t have any reason to support, evangelize or even use their software. Considering Mozilla’s success relied on their community, I guess alienating users like me is a big mistake.

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6. someone · 2014-03-15 21:45 · #

   When does the IE version get updated? It’s been a while. How do you adjust acceptable ads in IE? Will it fix the memory leak in AdblockPlusEngine.exe? Will it launch it’s own instance for each running copy of IE?

   How can we be more secure on safer day if we only have an old version?

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