When I say "blocked" I mean erased, wiped out and invisible. It leaves a blank white spot where the banners or text links should have been, making it look like your site is defective or you are missing information. It does not just block ads, it literally strips the source code out of the page.
I have been researching this issue for awhile now, and recently downloaded the software to start testing. I'm appalled and enraged at how this software defaces websites and can effect advertisers, webmaster and affiliate revenue! Even though these products are sold as "Security" THE DEFAULT IS SET TO BLOCK ADS, so for non-savvy users that do not realize how much information Norton can block, they will just think your site is poorly designed or information is missing when the see all the white spaces. This is evidenced by the fact that more and more webmasters are receiving customer email saying "I want to buy something on your site but there is no link, how can I buy this." View examples
If you don't think this is a big problem yet, I say - think again! Norton IS 2004, is being shipped with many new computers so I think this problem will grow. See this March 1 2004 Symantec press release stating that "Symantec Security Software Ships on Nine of Top 10 Notebook Computers Worldwide." "...According to research firm IDC, notebooks are the fastest growing PC market segment, and sales of notebooks have now surpassed those of desktops."
I am not an affiliate or a merchant, so I have not personally suffered any loss of revenue. I am an affiliate management consultant and it's my job to help clients (etailers) and affiliates make money online. So I share this info in an effort to help others become aware of the issue and discover potential solutions which could help protect your online revenues.
This issue is being hotly debated on webmaster forums across the net. Some say Norton has the right to do whatever they want with their software. Others say it is the user's choice and if they want to block ads they should be allowed to. Choice is a key issue here! I believe many users who leave default settings on, do not even realize that Norton is blocking so much content.
In addition to the fact that this software is cutting into ad revenues, here are other issues that I think webmaster need to be aware of.
PRODUCT REPRESENTATION - Both Norton Internet Security and Personal Firewall are sold as "security" products, designed to protect users from the "threats" of the Internet and malicious "intrusions." The products own ad claims "provides essential protection from viruses, hackers, and privacy threats." Their ad does not even highlight Ad Blocking as a feature. View product description.
AD BLOCKING DEFAULTS - Since these products are sold as Security products, Ad Blocking should be an option users can turn on, it should not be the default. Popups are intrusive, banner ads can take additional load time, but text links should not be blocked. Regardless, unless this product is labeled clearly as an ad blocker, the default should be off and it should be the users CHOICE to turn it on.
AD BLOCKING WARNINGS - There should also be clear labeling in the interface and on the box warning that there may be large blank spaces on web sites and links and navigation may be missing or may not work properly due to the blocking features. Numerous web sites are getting tech support calls due to users that want to purchase and can't see links or think that the site is defective. Even the Washington Post has had to address the Norton issue in their help files.
TEXT LINKS - Text links are not intrusive and do not eat up bandwidth. According to Symantec help - text based ads are not supposed to be blocked, yet they are, including Google Adwords and Adsense. Norton's help files state that Ad Blocking does NOT remove text links, yet it does. See Examples
