Why no "Banner Ad Eaters"?

[Tim May <tcmay@got.net>]

At 8:21 AM -0800 1/22/98, bill.stewart@pobox.com wrote:

>What I'd really like to see in a browser is an option to
>turn off animated GIFs (other than by killing all images.)
>

Yeah, I'm surprised that "banner ad eaters" have not been widely deployed.
(If they're available, I haven't about them.) Something to remove the
annoying banners, or stop them from wasting valuable time loading in the
first place.

These would be comparable to "television commercial killers," which have
not really been feasible, as the pattern recognition methods (like
increased volume for commercials) are not reliable.

But with banner ads, this should be possible. Whether through a plug-in, or
through a "patched" version of Navigator or Explorere. (In fact, why don't
these vendors offer a switch to turn off downloading of ads? I think I know
the marketing reason, but this still suggests a market opportunity for
someone to jump in with a patched version, or a "advertising-free" browser.)

BTW, some of the notorious features of the new "anti-hacking" laws make
disassembly of programs, like browsers, illegal. While they won't bother
with folks who just fool around with disassembling code, they might use
these anti-hacking laws to throw the book at anyone who made such a
banner-eater available.

After all, directly infringing on the rights of advertisers to beam their
shit into our eyeballs is America's most serious crime.

--Tim May

The Feds have shown their hand: they want a ban on domestic cryptography
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
ComSec 3DES:   408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^2,976,221   | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."