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Technology and the Internet

No Banner Ads?

By KAREN KAPLAN
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Netizens who remember the good old days before companies began commercializing the Internet may get to go back in time, thanks to new software from Solid Oak Software, the Santa Barbara maker of the CyberSitter filtering program.

In addition to blocking X-rated material and other categories of content on the Web, last week CyberSitter added banner ads to the list of objectionable material it can filter.

Marc Kanter, Solid Oak’s vice president of marketing, said customers have been asking for years for the ability to block banner ads. In addition to being an annoyance, some of the fancier ads contain detailed graphics and Java “applets” that can take a long time to download, he said.

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When the new feature was released Thursday, Solid Oak also touted CyberSitter’s ability to remove advertising from free e-mail services such as Hotmail. But the company later removed that capability because users of those services must agree to accept advertisements as a condition of getting the free accounts, Kanter said.

The company said it has not received any complaints from online advertisers.

Technology and the Internet
Karen Kaplan

Karen Kaplan covers science and medical research for the Los Angeles Times. She has been a member of the science team since 2005, including 13 years as an editor. Her first decade at The Times was spent covering technology in the Business section as both a reporter and editor. She grew up in San Diego and is a graduate of MIT and Columbia University.

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