Firefox

I am an active user and advocate of Mozilla Firefox. I also am a fan of its Ad-blocking extension - AdBlock Plus. I have considered AdBlock Plus a very useful extension that allowed me to get rid of all annoying and pesky pop-ups and banner ads that otherwise clutter my browsing experience.

However, a recent blog by Vaibhav Gadodia titled "When will people stop stealing content" raised a very interesting point; it gave me food for thought. In his blog Vaibhav argues that since the advertising pays for the content, blocking those ads deprives the site owner the revenues that he would have earned had those ads been visible. Vaibhav goes on to compare the online content monetized by ads to an "honor system" of selling goods, wherein the users are free to pick up the goods as long as they drop the recommended amount into the jar.

Equating ad-blocking to stealing, in my opinion, is a radical generalization and I disagree with it. Here's why.

I recently wrote about the dangers posed by the Internet. From spam email clogging up your mailbox to malicious crooks trying to gain control of either your computer or your identity, threats can materialize in a variety of forms. Safety can never be over-emphasized when carrying out transactions online. However, in today's scenario staying safe is also complex and often difficult.

I have personally struggled with many of such issues, made many mistakes and also been gullible enough to fall prey to Cyber-thieves selling fictitious goods. However, I have learnt from these mistakes and, over time, have developed practices that have helped me be a little more secure. While I cannot guarantee that these steps will keep you safe all the time, they will certainly help: