Yahoo ad network offers 'deceptive' ads

Deceptive advertising may be illegal in the US, but Yahoo's ad network appears to offer it to publishers on a menu of choices when they're deciding what ads to run on their Web sites. Yahoo Right Media's Direct Media Exchange gives publishers the option of running or blocking several different types of ads, based on their "deceptiveness." These ads include graphical advertisements that are designed to look like fake error or download messages or look like genuine Windows dialog boxes. Also included are ads that have phony "close window" buttons or pull-down menus that actually take the user to a Web site instead of closing the window or producing a pull-down menu. Direct Media Exchange also categorizes deceptive ads by language, letting publishers filter out "deceptive or questionably realistic offers," or "free" offers that do not disclose what a consumer might have to do to qualify for this free offer. According to data on the Direct Media Exchange Web site, these "Free with no disclosure language" ads can make up close to 18 percent of Right Media's ad inventory at certain times.