Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

No More Deceptive Download Buttons

googleonlinesecurity.blogspot.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

161–170 of 263 posts

Re: No More Deceptive Download Buttons

#161

Post by spdustin »

onion2k wrote: post #53
whyleyc wrote: post #9

This is a joke right ? We run Adsense display ads on our site and have to spend significant time every day reviewing and blocking new ads which try to use these deceptive practices. Since Google clearly has the tech to detect this they should be implementing it at source on the advertisers (malvertisers). Instead they are pushing this down to the publishers and hitting them with penalties. It's a clever ploy in some…

Firstly, this will work on ad networks other than Google, so it''s more broad reaching than anything they could do just within AdSense. This is good. Secondly, and arguably more importantly, the way to stop these adverts is for them to cost the advertiser (in either money or time) without giving them the reward of revenue. If the ads stop working then people won't have a reason to make them. By stopping the ads in Ad…

> By stopping the ads in AdSense rogue advertisers would just change to a different ad network

The sites that "everyday folk" browse are much more likely to be running ads from the AdSense network. Forcing the rogue advertisers to place ads on a smaller network serves to cost them (money or time) without the reward of the revenue they'd otherwise get from AdSense-enabled drive-bys.

Re: No More Deceptive Download Buttons

#162

Post by enzanki_ars »

dheera wrote: post #148

This "Google Safe Browsing" initiative seriously worries me. It's effectively some unknown, mysterious, un-contactable set of AI algorithms/people/who knows what controlling the internet because Google owns everyone's browser. One of my websites got tagged as "Dangerous" and having "harmful programs" despite having nothing of the sort. My guess is a silly hiccup of their neural network algorithms. And I have absolute…

According to the FAQ[0] of the safe browsing program, they attempt to contact you first, but there is a way to contact them.

  What if you can’t get in touch with 
  the webmaster because they’re not 
  registered with Google Webmaster 
  Tools?

  Every time we add an unsafe site to 
  the list, we make a reasonable 
  effort attempt to inform the 
  webmaster by sending a notification 
  to a standard set of email addresses 
  (e.g., webmaster@[sitename].com; 
  info@[sitename].com; 
  admin@[sitename].com).

  If my website has been compromised 
  and is now unsafe, what can I do?

  We offer advice for webmasters whose 
  sites have been hacked here. It’s 
  best to register your site at Google 
  Webmaster Tools in advance of any 
  problems so that we can notify you 
  promptly and provide more 
  information about the problems we 
  find.

  If you don’t want to use Google 
  Webmaster Tools, you can file 
  appeals with StopBadware.org once 
  you have removed the infection from 
  your site. StopBadware.org also 
  offers great resources for 
  webmasters who want to learn more 
  about what they can do to make their 
  sites safer.
[0]: https://www.google.com/transparencyreport/safebrowsing/faq/?...

Re: No More Deceptive Download Buttons

#163

Post by spdustin »

JoshTriplett wrote: post #135
fixermark wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Based on other comments in this thread: does such an ad network exist? If all your options are terrible, you might as well use the terrible option with the largest ROI, right?

> If all your options are terrible, you might as well use the terrible option with the largest ROI, right? One of the options is "stop running ads". Why is a "site for public safety communications" running ads at all? Public safety announcement: block all ads to make your browsing much safer. Use Adblock Plus (with so-called "acceptable ads" turned off) or uBlock Origin.

He's not running a public safety institution, he runs a site that has live audio streams from police / emergency scanners.

(incidentally, Lindsay, I've used http://www.radioreference.com to learn a great deal about Software Defined Radio, and I occasionally listen to various Illinois streams on http://www.broadcastify.com - thanks for running these sites!)

Re: No More Deceptive Download Buttons

#164

Post by ryanlol »

mtgx wrote: post #159
ryanlol wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As with most things in this world, you could sue them.

How many of the sites that were illegitimately blocked can afford to sue Google? How many can afford to win against Google's top notch legal team?

The real question is

"Is it worth it for google to send their legal team to some small claims court hearing instead of just unblocking the site?"

And contrary to the popular belief, suing people really isn't that expensive if you've got the time to do it.

Re: No More Deceptive Download Buttons

#165

Post by kuschku »

dheera wrote: post #148

This "Google Safe Browsing" initiative seriously worries me. It's effectively some unknown, mysterious, un-contactable set of AI algorithms/people/who knows what controlling the internet because Google owns everyone's browser. One of my websites got tagged as "Dangerous" and having "harmful programs" despite having nothing of the sort. My guess is a silly hiccup of their neural network algorithms. And I have absolute…

> Google owns everyone's browser

It doesn’t have to be like that.

Re: No More Deceptive Download Buttons

#167

Post by sharkweek »

ryanlol wrote: post #156
dheera wrote: post #148

This "Google Safe Browsing" initiative seriously worries me. It's effectively some unknown, mysterious, un-contactable set of AI algorithms/people/who knows what controlling the internet because Google owns everyone's browser. One of my websites got tagged as "Dangerous" and having "harmful programs" despite having nothing of the sort. My guess is a silly hiccup of their neural network algorithms. And I have absolute…

As with most things in this world, you could sue them.

Has any site that has been incorrectly de-indexed from Google sued and won? I have no idea, but this would be super fascinating.

Re: No More Deceptive Download Buttons

#168

Post by enzanki_ars »

20years wrote: post #119
whyleyc wrote: post #9

This is a joke right ? We run Adsense display ads on our site and have to spend significant time every day reviewing and blocking new ads which try to use these deceptive practices. Since Google clearly has the tech to detect this they should be implementing it at source on the advertisers (malvertisers). Instead they are pushing this down to the publishers and hitting them with penalties. It's a clever ploy in some…

Exactly this. Ads served through Adsense are flooded with these. We have spent countless hours trying to block all of them but they just pop up again under a different domain. So is Google going to punish publishers who are using Adsense if these ads come through Adsense?

I could only wish that Google will punish their own sites the same too. There are countless ads on YouTube claiming to provide free Minecraft downloads, commonly shown to very young viewers of YouTube. You might even be able to see these right now by turning on Private Browsing and disabling your ad-blocker.

Re: No More Deceptive Download Buttons

#169

Post by enzanki_ars »

kalkin wrote: post #115
onion2k wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Firstly, this will work on ad networks other than Google, so it''s more broad reaching than anything they could do just within AdSense. This is good. Secondly, and arguably more importantly, the way to stop these adverts is for them to cost the advertiser (in either money or time) without giving them the reward of revenue. If the ads stop working then people won't have a reason to make them. By stopping the ads in Ad…

"more broad reaching than anything they could do just within AdSense" ... as long as you don't care about browsers which don't run Google's Safe Browsing service. You know another way to stop these ads? Make available an advertising network which doesn't serve them. Website owners who don't want to install malware on their users' computers - which is probably most of us - would prefer that network to the others. As-i…

I wonder if Mozila will attempt to create a list of scam advertisements and automatically block those...

Re: No More Deceptive Download Buttons

#170

Post by jfoster »

sharkweek wrote: post #167
ryanlol wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As with most things in this world, you could sue them.

Has any site that has been incorrectly de-indexed from Google sued and won? I have no idea, but this would be super fascinating.

De-indexed in search is a bit different from effectively blocked in the browser. If Chrome says your site is dangerous and actually your site is harmless, are they defaming your website? If Google choose not to include you in their search engine, that could still be an issue, but it's probably a lot more nuanced.
Post reply on HN