• CNET News.com, Friday, September 14, 2007 11 AM

Ad-blocking software may be growing in popularity, but no word on its legal status. Even so, plug-ins like Firefox's Adblock make it easy to configure your Web browser not to display ads. Understandably, advertisers and publishers are furious.

John Palfrey, an executive director of Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for Internet and Society, doesn't expect the Web business to let ad-blocking last for long, especially if it becomes more common. "I absolutely would expect to see litigation in this area," he said.

Ad-blocking plug-ins are now available for every major browser, from Microsoft's Internet Explorer to Apple's Safari and Mozilla's Firefox. The Interactive Advertising Bureau, which is supposed to represent the collective interest of Internet advertisers, says it has no plans to take the matter to court. It's definitely a tricky issue. On the one hand, you don't want to start another "Keep the Internet Free" campaign, because most people still don't know ad-blocking software exists. On the other hand, such software threatens the underpinnings of the Web content industry.

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