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German freemail sites trick Firefox and Chrome users into removing AdBlock

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Re: German freemail sites trick Firefox and Chrome users into removing AdBlock

#101

Post by mindslight »

adrianmn wrote: post #43

As someone that has been involved in online publishing for over 10 years I have a strong opinion about ad blockers. In my opinion using ad blockers is borderline piracy. Refusing the content creator his revenue by blocking his ads is little different than downloading music, books... without rewarding the creator. On top of that most of the quality content this days is on websites that have decent ads. I am not trying…

As someone who has used an ad blocker for over 10 years, I have a strong opinion about the ad industry.

Die out, go away, and let us get back to the point where the motivation to publish something on the 'net stems from the desire to share knowledge. To hell with the cacophonous status quo of doing the bare minimum to trick people into giving you their attention in order to fill their head with garbage for a fraction of a penny. And if hosting honest content using central servers costs too much to be sustainable, then let that dead-end approach leave us and make room for decentralized software to deliver information.

Re: German freemail sites trick Firefox and Chrome users into removing AdBlock

#102

Post by teleclimber »

This shows very clearly why browser warnings (aka "permission infobars") that are embedded on the page are bad.

http://chromespot.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/screen_quot...

By getting the user accustomed to seeing browser warnings and info there, you make it impossible for them to distinguish a legit browser warning from a fake one crafted by an unscrupulous site owner.

Browser warnings and notifications should significantly overlap the browser chrome (embedded in the address bar for example) so that no web page can make something that looks like it.

edit: image link

Re: German freemail sites trick Firefox and Chrome users into removing AdBlock

#103

Post by frik »

Trufa wrote: post #21
rjzzleep wrote: post #4

oh web.de easily the most dangerous free mail sites there is. it belongs to 1&1[1] one of the bigger internet companies in germany. it's really odd that no one ever shot them down. they are famous for tricking users into shady 2 year contracts, if they wanted to upgrade their 12 mb mailbox. they also upgraded the freemail to 500mb if and only if you would install their browser toolbar, which would change the mail ser…

I live in Austria now and it is amazing the amount of people who use GMX. I've been on a crusade to try to make people switch to, well, whatever but not that. I think it was one of the first ones around here and people got used to it and the status quo, most don't even know or care about how bad they've got it.

True, GMX is popular in Austria. Especially the kids and youth now use GMX instead of GMail or Outlook.com. For some reasons they trust European companies. (privacy, dislike NSA spying, etc.)

Though, GMX has done some shady business over the years and their servers are in Germany. They would be better off with some other email provider...

Re: German freemail sites trick Firefox and Chrome users into removing AdBlock

#104

Post by frik »

GMX plans to show a fake Firefox warning page, screenshot: http://www.browsersicherheit.info/img/anleitungen/ff_win/fir...

  The GMX website is disrupted by a plugin

  (orginal: Die GMX Website wird durch ein Plugin gestört)
As you can see on their "information campaign" page: http://www.browsersicherheit.info/sicherheit_ff.html

They also faked press articles: http://www.browsersicherheit.info/pressestimmen.html (two websites are related to "1&1"-company and they other one is "Bild")

Re: German freemail sites trick Firefox and Chrome users into removing AdBlock

#105

Post by microtonal »

PavlovsCat wrote: post #90
microtonal wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, except that many users want full indexing of e-mails, including attachments, such that they can use an AJAX web interface to quickly search them. So, storing all e-mails encrypted is not really feasible if you want to have such features as well [1]. It's a trade-off - convenience or security (I am sure someone will site Benjamin Franklin now ;)). [1] Yes, I know that there is work on indexing encrypted data.

There is still a difference between storing the emails unencrypted and using them to profile users for ad targeting. But anyway, what you are talking about could still be optional: if you wanted to search and be somewhat private you'd have to download the emails with a local client via IMAP - and if you really need search via web interface, you would toggle the option to store the emails unencrypted for that purpose.

There is still a difference between storing the emails unencrypted and using them to profile users for ad targeting.

You can disable interest-based ads:

https://www.google.com/settings/u/0/ads

Also, if you have a paid Google Apps account, you can disable ads in Google apps.

Personally, I'd like to see targeted ads more than 'random' ads. Of course, I don't like to be profiled. So, I use Ghostery, an ad blocker, and paid e-mail.

Re: German freemail sites trick Firefox and Chrome users into removing AdBlock

#106

Post by microtonal »

frik wrote: post #103
Trufa wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in Austria now and it is amazing the amount of people who use GMX. I've been on a crusade to try to make people switch to, well, whatever but not that. I think it was one of the first ones around here and people got used to it and the status quo, most don't even know or care about how bad they've got it.

True, GMX is popular in Austria. Especially the kids and youth now use GMX instead of GMail or Outlook.com. For some reasons they trust European companies. (privacy, dislike NSA spying, etc.) Though, GMX has done some shady business over the years and their servers are in Germany . They would be better off with some other email provider...

True, GMX is popular in Austria. Especially the kids and youth now use GMX instead of GMail or Outlook.com. For some reasons they trust European companies.

Even many older people. When I was doing my PhD, many of my German colleagues were using GMX addresses privately.

Re: German freemail sites trick Firefox and Chrome users into removing AdBlock

#107

Post by mendelk »

adrianmn wrote: post #43

As someone that has been involved in online publishing for over 10 years I have a strong opinion about ad blockers. In my opinion using ad blockers is borderline piracy. Refusing the content creator his revenue by blocking his ads is little different than downloading music, books... without rewarding the creator. On top of that most of the quality content this days is on websites that have decent ads. I am not trying…

ABP for Chrome has the "Allow some non-intrusive advertising" flag for precisely this reason: to reward creators who use ads deemed "acceptable".

This flag is checked by default.

More Info: https://adblockplus.org/en/acceptable-ads

Re: German freemail sites trick Firefox and Chrome users into removing AdBlock

#108

Post by ehPReth »

inanov wrote: post #39

> The requested URL / was not found on this server. webpages at http://browsersicherheit.info/ seems to be removed. http://web.archive.org/web/20140226224721/http://www.browser... says that adblock "Filters page content"

You need the www. bit in the URL. http://www.browsersicherheit.info/ produces the homepage but http://browsersicherheit.info/ produces a 404

Re: German freemail sites trick Firefox and Chrome users into removing AdBlock

#109

Post by scurvy »

eik3_de wrote: post #15

This is so embarrassing and disgusting. For reference, here's a list of United Internet properties to avoid: 1&1 (aka 1and1.com) GMX WEB.DE InterNetX united-domains Sedo mail.com Fasthosts affilinet Arsys

Anyone who does business with 1&1 deserves what they get. They're known to generally be amongst the worst in the industry.

Re: German freemail sites trick Firefox and Chrome users into removing AdBlock

#110

Post by netrus »

mindslight wrote: post #101
adrianmn wrote: post #43

As someone that has been involved in online publishing for over 10 years I have a strong opinion about ad blockers. In my opinion using ad blockers is borderline piracy. Refusing the content creator his revenue by blocking his ads is little different than downloading music, books... without rewarding the creator. On top of that most of the quality content this days is on websites that have decent ads. I am not trying…

As someone who has used an ad blocker for over 10 years, I have a strong opinion about the ad industry. Die out, go away, and let us get back to the point where the motivation to publish something on the 'net stems from the desire to share knowledge. To hell with the cacophonous status quo of doing the bare minimum to trick people into giving you their attention in order to fill their head with garbage for a fraction…

I dont get your comment. Not content delivery is expensive, but content creation Do you want a net without professional journalism?! Or do you prefer paywalls? Or donations?

I am in favor of a great coordinated blackout campaign by the large content providers. Dont want to see ads? Fine, pay a dollar via Paypal to see the site - or go away.

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