Alan Frayer, CNE, CNI, CIW CI, Net+, MCP

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Debbie (and Bocona) lives for television. Well, maybe not literally, but there is rarely a time when one or the other is home and the TV isn't on. They don't always watch it; it can be enough to them for the tube to be on, a comforting voice in an otherwise quiet house (can Roseanne Barr-Arnold's voice really be called comforting?).

Debbie has picked up an annoying habit, however, one that has been attributed more to men than women (a statistic that offers no consolation to me). She sits there, remote in hand, flipping though channels. The affliction is worst during commercials (it´s surprising she can recognize a name-brand product for the amount of time she spends on one channel during commercials). Doctors offer no cure.

Two entrepreneurs in California are out to make life that much harder for Debbie. Actually, they have something totally different in mind, but it's certain to frustrate the Debbies of the world. Software Advertising Corporation has been granted a patent for a system that integrates advertisements with computer programs.

I haven't seen a demonstration of the process, but I can imagine some of the effects. A $60 game might drop in price about $10 if it has an advertisement imbedded within, the difference made up by a subsidy from Coca-Cola. Such a deal doesn't even need the new process; all the soft drink company has to do is pay a game publisher to put their ad in the opening screen, and prevent shortcuts past the ad. If the game is good, players won't care about the ad, thinking it an inconvenience, much as today's forms of copy-protection.

What the whole idea DOES do is flood an already over-advertised society with more advertising. There will be no escape. It reminds me of a science fiction story I once read, title forgotten, dealing with a world run by ad agencies.

Debbie's escape route would amount to frequent rebootings, additional wear on the power supply and hard drive, and increased maintenance costs. Then, some bright hacker will come up with a shareware product (sure to be popular) that blocks the ads out, much as products exist for the annoying Prodigy ads.

Once the ad program gets popular with merchants, clones will develop. With any luck, they'll sue each other (a common affliction in the computer industry), and neither company will recover.

User action is called for, and demands action NOW, before the ads become too commonplace. We've done it before, when we boycotted copy-protected programs, and we can do it again. If a program has an ad in it, no matter how inexpensive, don't buy it! Pressure your congressman for a bill forcing the disclosure of advertising within software, and boycott those companies that buy the ad space!

Don't give up your right to an ad-free computer. It may be all you have left!

Copyright (c) 1992 by Alan Frayer
All Rights Reserved

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