Ad Abuse

Just like everything else on the internet, advertisements have been evolving at an alarming rate, with a seemingly constant development of new, more annoying, or trickier advertisements. The old day of the humble 'Pop Up' are mostly behind us. Browsers employed with ad-blockers and newer methods of embedding advertisements mean that instead of opening a page and getting bombarded with five or so annoying, but easy to dispose of windows of random ads that may or may not having anything to do with the page I'm looking at, we instead get advertisements embedded as banners on the page itself, or disguised as important 'System' messages that can trick the unknowing or unwary. Spyware often operates in a similar manner.

I remember when Pop Up ads were the bane of internet existence. Now, they're some of the less annoying and invasive choices that we stumble across. Embedded adverts bug me because there isn't a way to escape them. They are just there and you have to passive absorb them. The animated with music are the worst, because they're distracting and take up loading time I'd rather spend on other things.

Most websites need the funding they provide, and although these days there is more of an effort to tailor them to the 'interests' of the user in question (which makes me uncomfortable enough on it's own), this often falls flat and ends up with rather...amusing results. How many female users have opened up an internet based email account like gmail and found a bold advert at the top of the page announcing 'What Viagra Can Do For You' or something along those lines.

Spam filters are a requirement for email, just like a multitude of mailboxes have 'No Junk Mail' stamped across the front of them, often ignored at will. Still, now most of my spam is from genuine names and email addresses, either hijacked or compiled somehow to trick spam filters and internet users into accepting them. It's especially hilarious when I receive spam from myself.

Also, the freedom of the internet means that unlike advertisements in the real world, where on television they show on certain timeslots for appropriate ages, or in magazines with appropriate subject matter, on the internet ads are much more random and it's no wonder parents are worried about child security on the internet when even a simple email account will track a multitude of spam and ads of a definite adult nature.

Just like we're bombarded in the 'real world' with adverts from everything from television to billboards and magazines, the internet has also cultivated an invasive, inescapable world of advertisements which can range from harmless and annoying, to harmful and on the shadier side of legal.

Much like concerns with personal privacy on the internet, advertisers are becoming more and more invasive and inventive in their methods of attracting hits, and the 'freedom' and 'anonymity' that people perceive the internet to offer seems to be disappearing with the sheer amount of tracking, data and techniques these advertisers use.