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posted ago by 800080 ago by 800080 +27 / -0

Fox News recently put a "Continue" button on their website, at least on mobile, and they won't be the only one

Another website served up an ad which started with a "Continue" Button graphic in the ad.

Clicking on it started the steps to install a new app, which looked like a browser / search engine hijack. It may have been innocent or not so much.

Expect malware in the next few weeks and click carefully. If you get a continue or similar button it should match the rest of the web site and there should be no "X" nearby to close it. Some of these popups have made the "X" invisible.

A "Dark Pattern" is something on a web page that gets you to click when you wouldn't normally. In this case Fox News [and others] did the 'Continue' thing so more of our display could show ads. In doing so, they have created a dark pattern that others can and will exploit.

A "PUP" is a potentially unwanted program. Doesn't cause damage like ransomware or a computer virus, but can, and usually slows down your computer or clogs your Internet collection with ads.

Fox News and others don't directly control this. They've just signed on to an ad network and that ad network isn't doing a good job.

Comments (5)
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MakeFreedomRing 4 points ago +4 / -0

thanks for the heads up

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deleted 4 points ago +4 / -0
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WhyWhyWhyWhyWhy 4 points ago +4 / -0

Many thanks for the PSA!

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Belleoffreedom 4 points ago +4 / -0

The dry run for this was Chrome carried via Adobe Reader and Acrobat. I got and had fits deleting Chrome twice.

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BuckyRancher 2 points ago +2 / -0

Doesn't this make you feel good, PEDES helping PEDES. Thanks for the PSA