A new tool to block rich media ads will be soon offered to its subscribers by Earthlink. As described in an article of Yahoo! News, the access provider will help web surfers stopping pop-up and pop-unders. Last August EarthLink launched a pop-up blocker that has been downloaded by 1.2 million customers.
On the matter the are different opinions: EarthLink believes that "Pop-up ads started off as a legitimate vehicle for people to monetize their sites but what we saw ended up being used irresponsibly and generated a strong backlash from consumers and tools to control them". While Jupiter Research associate analyst Nate Elliott was uncertain how many people would actually choose to use the tool: "Most people see Flash content as beneficial because it gives them interesting animation.".