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Google and Paint.NET need to stop misleading users (2013)

jasonlefkowitz.net

1–10 of 109 posts

Re: Google and Paint.NET need to stop misleading users (2013)

#3
This is one of the examples of why I consider Google a malware distributor. This sort of stuff just continues undealt with.

Companies should be held responsible for the ads they distribute, it's the only way to make them care enough to vet the ads they push.

Re: Google and Paint.NET need to stop misleading users (2013)

#7
This is trivially solved with an ad blocker. Frankly, I do not see the problem. Why should you rely on Google/Paint.NET/state legislation when the solution is literally a few button clicks away on both chrome and firefox? All browsers should come with ad blockers by default. Hell, the OS should come with blocking hosts.txt. That would make the digital world a whole lot safer. And before you say the internet will die, I'd be more than willing to pay a subscription fee for stuff like youtube and twitch.tv. Or there could still be ads like here on hackernews, relevant and embedded in the site.

Re: Google and Paint.NET need to stop misleading users (2013)

#8
I'm curious why these ads are even allowed to get through the network in the first place. Is there just NO content reviewing taking place? That's seems negligent on Google's part. There is no reason for an ad like that to exist on any webpage, period. It should have been blocked at the source.

Where is the 3-strikes policy in the ad space? Google is so eager to punish its Youtube streamers for running questionably offensive content, and yet it continues to let advertising scum like this run rampant across its ecosystem.

Re: Google and Paint.NET need to stop misleading users (2013)

#9
post #7

This is trivially solved with an ad blocker. Frankly, I do not see the problem. Why should you rely on Google/Paint.NET/state legislation when the solution is literally a few button clicks away on both chrome and firefox? All browsers should come with ad blockers by default. Hell, the OS should come with blocking hosts.txt. That would make the digital world a whole lot safer. And before you say the internet will die,…

As much as I agree that the problem is solved for those who know about ad blockers, many people (e.g. non-hacker news types!) do not know about them. In any case, whether users can solve this by installing an ad blocker is beside the point - this is really shitty behaviour that I wouldn't have expected Google to allow, or for Paint.NET to allow on their site.

Re: Google and Paint.NET need to stop misleading users (2013)

#10
post #7

This is trivially solved with an ad blocker. Frankly, I do not see the problem. Why should you rely on Google/Paint.NET/state legislation when the solution is literally a few button clicks away on both chrome and firefox? All browsers should come with ad blockers by default. Hell, the OS should come with blocking hosts.txt. That would make the digital world a whole lot safer. And before you say the internet will die,…

I don't see any problem too. Now they download something that is not paint.net , next they download and run malware. In this case the cost of mistake is cheap. Let them learn from their mistakes. What we need is to educate people how to download and run what they really need, not blindly clicking the biggest banner on the page.
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