The advent of the Internet and World Wide Web create dilemmas for lawmakers and ethicists as they attempt to apply traditional laws and ethics to new technologies. With respect to electronic advertising, the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) “prohibition on unfair or deceptive acts or practices broadly covers advertising claims, marketing and promotional activities, and sales practices in general” (Dot Com 3). The Act is not limited by medium. Traditional copyright and trademark law are also being applied to electronic media, including a recent federal district court case pertaining to the subject herein, Pop-Up Advertising.
Pop-Up Ads are “small windows that suddenly appear while surfing the Web” (Isenberg 1). A response to the lackluster performance of traditional banner advertising, pop-up ads are viewed by advertisers as an effective alternative that consumers cannot ignore. Many pop-up ads promise free services or software that consumers allegedly need. Once consumers download the software they are often automatically tracked by the company, which is actually a subscription-based service. Such services sell advertising and track consumers on the Internet, delivering pop-ups ads based on consumer profiles. Many argue such ads are illegal because they confuse consumers who believe the Web site they visit is sponsoring the pop-up ad. Others argue that pop-up ads are illegal because they rob Web sites they erupt from of advertising revenues, since both types of companies sell advertising. Ethically, pop-up ads are intrusive, disrupt workflow and train of thought, slow down computer processing and in general reduce productivity against a consumer’s will. This research will explore the legal and ethical issues of pop-up ads that attempt to convince consumers they need software to enhance their systems as a ploy to ad them to their pop-up distribution list.
Pop-up ads are interactive, of various forms and t...