I don't so much consider this a security risk and therefore "threat worthy", but it definitely falls into the category of annoyance. I had tagged this post from The Register a while ago and have only just gotten around to commenting on it until now. According to the post, Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) had entered into an agreement with Adobe (NASDAQ: ADBE) to incorporate targeted advertisements into PDF documents:
"The scheme is optional, but unfortunately only for the advertiser. Advertisers just upload their PDF files to Yahoo! so they can be “ad-enabled”, meaning the adverts linked to the document’s contents are slotted in.
The Advertisements are shown in a side panel that appears in Acrobat Reader whenever the document’s opened, though Yahoo! hasn’t said if this panel can be hidden by users. We suspect not. It’s expected that the ads will be charged on a pay-per-click basis."
I think I'll take a pass on the targeted adverts when reading a PDF, thank you very much. I get enough spam and mailers that I don't need any other distractions.
As fiendish as this sounds, "Big Blue" gets credit for dreaming up something similar where ads would be inserted into DVDs and displayed during playback. The system as described in IBM's patent request would function as follows:"Whenever a DVD is to be played, a certificate is consulted to determine whether the content of the DVD should be played with or without commercial interruptions," the patent reads. "If the certificates provide for commercial interruptions, then commercials can be obtained from an online service that renders commercials on demand, or from the DVD itself."
What are your thoughts on this? Would you be willing to have advertisements shoved onto your display when trying to read a PDF? Should Adobe provide the ability to turn this feature off or would that be too much like the "commercial skip" function that "used" to be available on DVRs and that broadcasters have been fighting to have removed, so their ad revenue isn't impacted?
As to the IBM scheme; I already have to deal with product placement in movies and I purchase/rent DVDs, specifically so I can watch something with no interruptions. If they try to ram this down my throat, I'll go back to reading, just not ad-laden PDFs...
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