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Posted by Lee Jones 720 days ago
Category: Content filtering | Tags: adware malware advertisements
Add a separate category for advertisement sites like adbrite.com and atdmt.com. Draw a distinction between advertisers and adware/malware sites.

I'm not sure I want to block advertisers on a DNS level; it seems this would cause more problems for OpenDNS than it is worth. But I do want to block spyware and adware sites from downloading stuff to my users' computers.
comments 12 Comments  

Comments

written by cypresschurch 719 days ago Rating: 6 | Rate Comment: + -

To clarify, if you look at how OpenDNS can be free (by showing relevant ads during searches), it seems to conflict with the great, free service's means of paying the bills if you block all advertisers.

But, I do want to block bad software...

written by pencoyd STAFF 714 days ago Rating: 3 | Rate Comment: + -

We see these as unique/separate categories, but not sure about offering a category we're opposed to blocking (advertisers or ad servers).

written by cypresschurch 713 days ago Rating: 1 | Rate Comment: + -

Right, that's what I'm trying to point out. I want to block the software, but a category for ad servers is undesirable for OpenDNS.

That said, I'm sure there will be users who keep feeding ad servers into the AdWare category (which is why I'm not using that category right now).

written by rrustema 710 days ago Rating: 2 | Rate Comment: + -

Yes, I would really appreciate a category for domains like doubleclick.net and the likes. I now use Privoxy software (a local proxy) and I can highly recommend it. Websurfing without banners is a great experience. But Privoxy is getting increasingly more user unfriendly, although technically superior.

If all banner and advertising sources are filtered by OpenDNS and only overture.com is not blocked (the revenue for OpenDNS), I could easily do that locally for that domain. I reconfigure my computer to only filter out overture.com banners and I am completely bannerfree.

Therefore, if OpenDNS decides to offer a category for this, I expect it to be only available for a fee. Which I would gladly pay, I can't stress that enough. It is the only reason why I just registered this afternoon, hunting for an alternative to Privoxy. I am looking for a service like Privoxy, but then something I can recommend to everybody I know without me installing and maintaining complicated local proxy software on their computers.

Actually, I should able to buy a service for a batch of IP-addresses, so I can also include the IP-adresses of friends and family who want to surf banner free. They ask me with an e-mail, I look up their IP-address in the header of their e-mail and I add them after I have instructed them to change their DNS. Once I get past, for example, 10, addresses, and want to add more, I either have to buy an extra bundle for another 10, or I have to delete some. Or I convince the most tech-savy friend in my list to get an account himself and start spreading the service to his friends and family. In that way OpenDNS also a viral marketing model for such a service:

One person starts using OpenDNS through a friend by passing on their IP-address(es). They wish this also for their friends and ask him to add them. This has a limit and he suggests to buy a personal account. Then that person is going to 'spread the word' in his group of friends until the limit is reached.

Companies can even give the service away as a price. They pay OpenDNS on their behalf. It is a price they can give online. They just show an instructional movie on how to manually change the DNS and meanwhile they see they add the IP-address to their list at OpenDNS. When they put an expiry date to each entry they can make their customer come back every week or month to a certain website.

Hey OpenDNS, how about that? I just invented a new business model for you! Including the fashionable viral marketing and super scalable. With clients paying real cash! All that on top of your current business model.

Enjoy. Don't wait with implementing it, I want to start using it yesterday already.

written by rrustema 708 days ago Rating: 0 | Rate Comment: + -

Just received a reply by e-mail that they are going to add this category shortly! Wow, first time ever I have experienced such an immediate feedback to a suggestion on a forum... Great.

written by pencoyd STAFF 695 days ago Rating: 1 | Rate Comment: + -

Moving this to Hall of Fame. There is an Advertising category, and has been for a couple of weeks now.

written by rrustema 664 days ago Rating: 1 | Rate Comment: + -

The Advertising category seems to have disappeared, so this could become a topic again for as far as I am concerned.

written by sparko 663 days ago Rating: 1 | Rate Comment: + -

Down the road, just bear in mind when we get what we wished for.

We can expect that some advertisers will be put off by OpenDNS decision to facilitate "ad blocking". To replace that OpenDNS revenue stream from advertisers, we should willingly upgrade to "premium" accounts if OpenDNS begins offering such.

For inline ads displayed in OpenDNS Guide pages, OpenDNS could just host sponsors' media asssets locally, using phpAdsNew (it scales pretty well) or a similar app. If served from sponsors.opendns.com (or whatever) you could still use Privoxy or AdBlockPlus or Proxomitron or DNSKong to nix the ad content... but with respect for the hand that feeds us, I would recommend allowing the OpenDNS-hosted ad content to remain, undisturbed.

written by dabitch 307 days ago Rating: 0 | Rate Comment: + -

You might want to draw a distinction between publications reporting on advertising & marketing and actual advertising networks such as adbrite, doubleclick et al. As it is now I see a lot of the aforementioned publications tagged as advertisers when they are not. Try "ad network" vs "advertising news" or something like that.

I concur with sparko's point though that advertising networks should nt have a way to weasel out of the adblock. It is however a real shame that publications reporting on advertising - adweek.com, adage.com, getcreativity and so on - get lumped together with networks when they are vastly different animals.

written by avaden 204 days ago Rating: 0 | Rate Comment: + -

it is great you guys added the advertising category, however, there seem to be a lot of mis-labeled advertising sites with the adware label. Telling someone a site is adware marks it as a potentially threatening website, which people labeling it before the advertising category was added with 'adware' probably didn't really realize what they were doing.

I went through to check a lot of our competitors and it seems most ad networks are labeled with 'adware'. Might be worth having someone go through the adware category to verify sites are legitimate or not.

written by ks_ba 197 days ago Rating: 0 | Rate Comment: + -

Why is this shows as "Done"? Advertisers category does not exist. I understood it had been created, then removed. So, what now?

written by jotsbox 66 days ago Rating: 0 | Rate Comment: + -

Please see this post: http://forums.opendns.com/comments.php?DiscussionID=5570#Item_1

Also, from an email from support: "This is something we are discussing internally."

Basically, OpenDNS users with the Deluxe and Enterprise plans SHOULD get this category back since the business model has changed for OpenDNS.


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