Is Adsense vulnerable to parasites?

What is Google's stance about link hijacking?

[buckworks]

There are all sorts of downloaded programs out there that can overwrite affiliate links for their own benefit, and it's likely only a matter of time until our Adsense ads are under this kind of attack as well .... scumware trying to intercept the credit for clickthroughs that legitimately come from our pages.

1) Does Google have plans to monitor for this kind of thing, or is there a place we can report suspicious activity?

2) Will Google be vigorous about kicking out any entity caught trying to interfere with anyone else's Adsense clicks?

I couldn't find anything in the FAQ or terms of service that applied to this; if it was there I missed it.

Elisabeth Archambault

[Visi]

Well see it took awhile to get there...but the point finally made. Google is now an advertising medium, and their tool does stop pop up ads. Interesting issue, but really what came first the chicken or the egg. Never seen a company take so much heat for developing tools that the average web user wants. Again, just like the majority of discussions on google here recently....you don't like it....unload the software.

[europeforvisitors]

Again, Google doesn't block popups unless the user has chosen to have popups blocked by the toolbar. It really doesn't matter whether the user is blocking popups with the Google toolbar, with a setting in Opera, with a setting in an ISP's proprietary browser, or via a program like AdSubtract Pro. The user, not Google, is making the decision to block popups by whatever means.

In any case, popup blocking is a whole different critter from software that hijacks affiliate or ad links and siphons revenues into the hijacker's account. Such hijacking is stealing, pure and simple, and it has nothing to do with popup blocking or the Google toolbar.

[cramalot]

Ahh I see. A parental filter block entire sites. But the intent of the artist was it to be viewed when the url is clicked! This is what you have been arguing. So by your argument parental filters are a big no no.

[cramalot]

Hey and what about the adult filters to pull out curse words and modifying my posts?

[justageek]

No cramalot - the arguement was based on what the courts have already decided. It's immoral and illegal to change someones content. There is nothing wrong with preventing someone from viewing a site because they never had a chance to read it. That's all.

Do you think it would be fair I changed what you wrote from:

I do however wish to see more on the scumware issue.

by doing this:
I do however wish to see more *deleted* *deleted* scumware *deleted*.

to come up with this - I do however wish to see more scumware.

Not how you intended people to read it is it? Now if I never saw your sentence in any form then no harm done.

[justageek]

If a filter pulls out the curse words and the site tells you it will do it and you do it anyway then there is nothing wrong. That would be in their guidelines I'm sure.

[cramalot]

Then a pop-up blocker is ok. Because I never seen the pop-up to begin with.

[justageek]

No, not exactly, you didn't see *part* of what the site intended you to see.

[buckworks]

The original question, and I was the one who asked it, had little to do with popups. It was about how (or if) Google planned to deal with any entity which attempted to overwrite someone else's Adsense codes in order to intercept the credit for displaying the ads.

I wrote to Adsense asking the same questions, but haven't heard back from them yet.

Much of the above discussion about popups is off target. Popop blockers only violate a site owner's rights if it is actually their site delivering the popups. A large portion (some would say the majority) of the popups that torment people are being spewed out by scumware hiding in their systems, not by the sites they are visiting.

[cramalot]

Oh, ok. I get it.

justageek - "No, not exactly, you didn't see *part* of what the site intended you to see."

So if I close the window manually before it finishes loading then this is wrong?

I guess I don't get it on the pop up thing.

[dmorison]

you didn't see *part* of what the site intended you to see.

Stuff what the site intended me to see; any site that uses pop-ups deserves to have them blocked; to lose the revenue that may have been generated through them and ultimately to go out of business.

This is just natural selection at work, plain and simple.

It is a totally separate issue to that of a malicious process modifying content (or hi-jacking links downstream through a malicious transparent proxy) without the end users' knowledge, which is what is being discussed in this thread.

[RobinK]

Two points I would like to make. In my opinion if I ask the paperboy to take out the ads before he delivers my paper that is my right, the same with pop-ups. If I don't want them popping up on my computer in my home that is my right. I can screen my calls with caller id, I can block phone numbers through the phone company. I can add my phone number to the do not call registry. I don't see how it is not my right to block pop-up ads.

But the most important point I haven't seen anyone commenting on is the public does not like and does not want pop-ups. Therefore the sites that are using them don't really care what their visitors are interested in anyway. I realize that the pop-ups have been abused by a select type of webmaster and some sites pop-ups may be useful. But the majority of the pop-ups that USED to appear on my computer were not anything I was interested in and they annoyed me so I wouldn't have clicked on them anyway.

The saying is the customer is always right and on the internet the surfer is your customer. And the majority of them are saying stop the pop-ups. For those sites that have pop-ups that their regular visitors would appreciate the google toolbar provides the surfer with the ability to see select pop-ups if they choose to do so. You just need to convince them that Your pop-ups, they would appreciate.

As for adsense I love it. I am making good money, it is easy, and I hope it stays around for a long time. I have a content site and adsense fits beautifully into it.

A suggestion for anyone who feels strongly that google is overstepping their bounds by offering their customers what they want (shame on them)then I suggest you pull all your url's from their directory and cancel your adsense account.