Pagejacking diverts internet traffic from intended websites to unwanted ones, often containing pornographic content. It is illegal and involves copying a popular web page’s HTML code and adding code to redirect surfers to another site. Mousetrapping makes it difficult to leave. Pagejacking increases traffic and advertising revenue and can raise the selling price of a domain. To avoid it, manually enter a legitimate address or use a filtering program, and report it to the FTC.
Pagejacking is a technique used to divert Internet traffic from intended websites to unwanted websites, usually containing pornographic content. Once on the site, surfers may find it difficult to leave, as clicking the browser’s “back” button may only redirect them to new pornographic sites. Pagejacking is illegal, according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and is part of a deceptive practice that interferes with commerce.
To set up pagejacking, an unscrupulous vendor copies a popular web page from a legitimate site along with the underlying HTML code. HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language and is what web browsers process into the visual graphics we see when we visit sites. You can view the HTML or source code of a web page by right-clicking a site and choosing View Page Source from the pop-up menu.
The source code of a web page includes meta tags. Meta tags are keywords and key phrases that describe page content. Search engines use the meta tag section to rank and evaluate the page. High-ranking web pages are presented first by search engines, making it easier for surfers to find good information quickly.
Pagejackers steal the coding of a popular web page to trick search engines into listing the copied page. The pagejacker then adds some code to the copied page, causing it to redirect surfers to an entirely different website. For example, a surfer might enter “party supplies” into a search engine and among the many links returned, the copied site will be one of them. Clicking on this seemingly legitimate link will redirect the surfer to the offending site.
Once pagejacked, it is often difficult to leave the porn site. Clicking on the “back”, “next” or even “close” buttons might redirect the surfer to even more questionable sites with windows that pop up like fireworks. This is referred to as mousetrapping, commonly done using JavaScript or other code. Disabling JavaScript can prevent this in most cases, but JavaScript is also used to improve legitimate websites, so many people prefer it to be enabled.
Traffic is the basis for Internet revenue, and pagejacking increases traffic to websites through illegitimate means. With each click to exit, a redirect to another offending site increases that site’s traffic stats and earns the pagejacker a small income for the traffic being funneled. Pagejacking is also used to increase advertising revenue and can be used to raise the selling price of a domain by presenting bloated traffic statistics to the buyer.
If you experience pagejacking, manually enter a legitimate address into your browser’s URL (address) field or click a bookmark. Check for persistent open windows that may be behind the main window or minimized to the system tray. If you’re concerned about minors, consider a filtering program that will block pornography, preventing a browser from redirecting you to offensive sites. You can also report pagejacking to the FTC.
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