KaZaaLite.com blocks Mozilla adblocker!

[DJGM]

Just visiting KaZaaLite.com*, to find out if there is a v2.02 update available, and after a few
seconds, I am greeted with a message that says "Website Access Denied" due to software
that I'm using (Mozilla with popup blocker active, and Netscape 7 with adblocker add-on)
that is blocking the popup ads. It also comes with a little bitty whinge that says . . .

Hey man,
Running the Kazaalite.com is really expensive. You are blocking my
popup ads, that pay for running it. Please shut down your browser
and disable popup blocking before trying to enter the site again.
Thanks for your support.

(Well, boo-hoo! )

If I try to re-visit the site, in the same session with ad-blocking still active, I get this . . .

Website Access Denied
You were blocked before and are still in the same session.
Please close off all programs that block ads. Then close
down your browser, open it back up and come back here.

(Well, yah boo sucks to you an' all!)

To top it off, it even does the same thing with Opera. (Oh, and Phoenix, too! Grrr!)

The only other browser on this system is IE. If they think I'm using THAT to gain
access to KaZaaLite.com, well, they got another think coming ain't they . . . ?!?

Apparently, according to a caption on the "access denied" page . . .

This website was protected by Anti-Theft™ from Anti-Leech.com.

So, the site in question is using some sort of software that stops any sort of browser
with a popup window blocker from accessing the site. Is there likely to be anything
in the pipeline anytime soon, that strengthen Mozilla's popup blocker against this?

Looks like I'm just gonna have to use KaZaaLite to download KaZaaLite updates in future!

*In case you didn't already know . . . KaZaaLite is a hacked version of KaZaa.
Essentially, it's the same as KaZaa, but with all the adware/spyware removed.

[whiprush]

The humor in this whole situation is cracking me up:

The guy is claiming that it is expensive to run kazaalite.com (which I'm sure is), but he has no qualms about stealing from Kazaa itself (KL does claim Ad free Kazaa, so I guess he's ripping of Kazaa). So I click on this stupid Anti-leech.com, and end up with a page with one of my most favorite ads on the internet: "WARNING: Your computer is broadcasting an IP address!". The sheer stupidity of that site is a great laugh, I wonder who would pay for such great technology.

PS - It doesn't suck at all, keeping Kazaa, lite or otherwise, off of people's machines is a great idea.

[paulm]

It's their website and they're perfectly entitled to refuse access to anyone they like really.

However, the method they are using seems
a) to give false alerts
b) not very difficult to work around.

Turning Javascript off in Mozilla and Opera does the trick.

If you're using Opera 7s "Hide certain sized elements (aggressive)" user stylesheet (which is what you'd use to block ads) then it doesn't work anyway, as the iframe they use to host the code matches one of those sizes and never gets loaded! I like the irony on that one.

[nicubunu]

If the navigation in the site is made entirely with javascript you can't turn js off (this is the case with kazaalite.com).

[Ted Mielczarek]

Oh, sweet irony.

What will website owners do when IE7 finally gets popup blocking, and nobody sees popup ads anymore?

[Lama]

Oh, sweet irony.

What will website owners do when IE7 finally gets popup blocking, and nobody sees popup ads anymore?

They'll probably use positioned divs instead of popup windows, which are very difficult to block without also blocking cool dynamic menus. I've seen a couple already and they are extremely annoying..

[dan0xii]

Just use www.k-lite.tk

[Ted Mielczarek]

Oh, sweet irony.

What will website owners do when IE7 finally gets popup blocking, and nobody sees popup ads anymore?

They'll probably use positioned divs instead of popup windows, which are very difficult to block without also blocking cool dynamic menus. I've seen a couple already and they are extremely annoying..

*Sigh*

It's an arms race, isn't it?

Mozilla will need some sort of dynamic HTML rewriting engine, and the ability to update the ruleset from the web, so people can keep ahead of the latest annoying advertising trends.

[Rashid Muhammad]

Oh, sweet irony.

What will website owners do when IE7 finally gets popup blocking, and nobody sees popup ads anymore?

They'll probably use positioned divs instead of popup windows, which are very difficult to block without also blocking cool dynamic menus. I've seen a couple already and they are extremely annoying..

I've never seen a dynamic menu that I can't live without.

[Rashid Muhammad]

*Sigh*

It's an arms race, isn't it?

Mozilla will need some sort of dynamic HTML rewriting engine, and the ability to update the ruleset from the web, so people can keep ahead of the latest annoying advertising trends.

Either that or just get your content from elsewhere until the webmasters get the idea that launching a barrage of crap at the user will only result in user going to another site. And of course if you still want the content even with the pop ups and other crap, then just deal with them and understand that reading the content that you want comes with caveats.