Publisher Declares War on Ad Blocking Software

Publisher Mind’s Eye Fiction launched a new system to
ensure that readers actually see banner ads on the Web — and to deny readers
access to content if they don’t display banners.

Calling the move “an escalation of the banner ad technology race,” Mind’s Eye
said its technology enables users to read the latest stories by modern
authors for free, but only if the reader will put up with the site’s banner
ads. A JavaScript program prevents
users from reading for free if ad blocking software is running.

“Banner ads are the economic engine behind today’s Web,” said Ken Jenks,
editor-in-chief of Mind’s Eye Fiction. “The few tenths of a penny we earn
from each ad impression — multiplied by millions — adds up to a steady
revenue stream that we can use to pay royalties to our authors.”

The site also allows readers to read stories and novels without seeing ads,
for as little as 16 cents per story using a pay-per-view e-commerce system.
Jenks says, “I think it’s important to provide an alternative to banner ads
for people with non-graphical browsers and for people who just don’t like
ads.”

“I have contractual responsibilities to our authors. I pay them royalties for
every reader. People who use banner ad blocking software are picking my
pocket,” Jenks said.

“Further technological escalation is possible,” said Jenks. “Our software
detects the action of blocking software, kind of an electronic
counter-countermeasure. It’s possible for banner ad blocking software to fool
our software into thinking that a banner has been displayed. If that happens,
we have other techniques we can deploy.”

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