Yandex.Browser for mobile subscription transparency
What is the fastest way to subscribe to a paid service from your phone? It is enough to click once on a button on a random site without reading the conditions at the bottom of the page. Today I will tell you about the problem of paid mobile subscriptions and about the technology in Yandex. Browser that protects people from unconscious spending.
Wap-click
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Wap-Click technology, which is the basis of mobile subscriptions, is positioned as a convenient way to pay for any digital content or services. Mobile Internet user is not required to enter additional data, send or receive SMS. Simply click on the big button on a special host of the cellular operator to make a paid subscription. Two examples:
Despite the fact that such pages are located on the operator's domains, their appearance is determined by the third-party content provider, which sells access to its content to users. However, he must follow certain rules. For example, it is usually impossible to hide detailed conditions and cost from the user. Specific details vary among operators. But as we see from the complaints of our users, these measures do not always save from unconscious purchases.
Partners
The problem of mobile subscriptions is not only in the informational content of the “last mile”, but also in some participants of affiliate programs of content providers, who, under any pretext and sometimes in violation of the laws, lead people to the pages of subscriptions. And the industry recognizes the existence of such a problem.
Affiliate programs are easy to find online. And the task before partners is simple - to bring potential buyers. Here, by the way, are more examples of used landing pages:
And here is an example of the work of one of these programs. The webmaster adds a third-party JS library to the code of his site, which redirects users of mobile devices to a page with a subscription. As a result, users of the wired network see the site, which they request, and mobile visitors in most cases are automatically transferred to the subscription page. In other words, such sites become the most common doorway pages.
However, partners have the opportunity to redirect users not automatically, but after conscious confirmation or acquaintance with detailed conditions. The problem is that, according to our data, most of the several hundred thousand known sites use the most common redirect or turn into clickables (redirect after any click on the page).
Webmasters who deliberately placed a primitive code on their website are not the only source of traffic. According to our data, several tens of thousands of sites have already become “doorways” as a result of hacking. Their owners may not be aware of what is happening, since not all mobile users are often redirected, but only one in three. And only if he came to the site from a search engine.
We should not forget about browser extensions, which also unexpectedly like to redirect a person to where he did not need to. And here you may be surprised, because extensions usually exist only for desktop versions of browsers, and on the desktop, as is commonly believed, people rarely use the mobile Internet. In fact, not rare. We know that 20% of potential subscribers come from the desktop. How is this possible? It's all about the widespread use of 3G modems. And often in offices they are used in conjunction with a WiFi-router. By the way, how we are already struggling with bad extensions, you can also read on Habré .
Mobile subscriptions to the desktop are also dangerous due to the fact that it is more difficult to find the small print on large monitors.
And nothing will happen
Complaints about random subscriptions and redirects come not only to the cellular operator, but also to us as browser developers. Ignoring them would be wrong, so some time ago we started looking for a solution to the problem. First of all, we have prepared an instruction that will help users to unsubscribe from the services. And today we are ready to announce the next step.
In fact, subscription to paid content occurs only on a limited number of hosts owned by cellular operators. Now, if the user is transferred to such a page, then Yandex.Browser will warn you and ask you to confirm your desire.
For our team it was important not only to protect people from unconscious spending, but also to draw their attention to the problem itself. If a person as a result of thinking about mobile subscriptions and their own care, it will help him avoid problems in the future.
We are interested to know the opinion of the community about this problem and how to solve it.
This warning is already working in Yandex Browser for iOS , Windows, OS X , as well as in beta for Android . In the near future, we plan to roll out this update on all Browser users.
Wap-click
')
Wap-Click technology, which is the basis of mobile subscriptions, is positioned as a convenient way to pay for any digital content or services. Mobile Internet user is not required to enter additional data, send or receive SMS. Simply click on the big button on a special host of the cellular operator to make a paid subscription. Two examples:
Despite the fact that such pages are located on the operator's domains, their appearance is determined by the third-party content provider, which sells access to its content to users. However, he must follow certain rules. For example, it is usually impossible to hide detailed conditions and cost from the user. Specific details vary among operators. But as we see from the complaints of our users, these measures do not always save from unconscious purchases.
Partners
The problem of mobile subscriptions is not only in the informational content of the “last mile”, but also in some participants of affiliate programs of content providers, who, under any pretext and sometimes in violation of the laws, lead people to the pages of subscriptions. And the industry recognizes the existence of such a problem.
Affiliate programs are easy to find online. And the task before partners is simple - to bring potential buyers. Here, by the way, are more examples of used landing pages:
And here is an example of the work of one of these programs. The webmaster adds a third-party JS library to the code of his site, which redirects users of mobile devices to a page with a subscription. As a result, users of the wired network see the site, which they request, and mobile visitors in most cases are automatically transferred to the subscription page. In other words, such sites become the most common doorway pages.
However, partners have the opportunity to redirect users not automatically, but after conscious confirmation or acquaintance with detailed conditions. The problem is that, according to our data, most of the several hundred thousand known sites use the most common redirect or turn into clickables (redirect after any click on the page).
Webmasters who deliberately placed a primitive code on their website are not the only source of traffic. According to our data, several tens of thousands of sites have already become “doorways” as a result of hacking. Their owners may not be aware of what is happening, since not all mobile users are often redirected, but only one in three. And only if he came to the site from a search engine.
We should not forget about browser extensions, which also unexpectedly like to redirect a person to where he did not need to. And here you may be surprised, because extensions usually exist only for desktop versions of browsers, and on the desktop, as is commonly believed, people rarely use the mobile Internet. In fact, not rare. We know that 20% of potential subscribers come from the desktop. How is this possible? It's all about the widespread use of 3G modems. And often in offices they are used in conjunction with a WiFi-router. By the way, how we are already struggling with bad extensions, you can also read on Habré .
Mobile subscriptions to the desktop are also dangerous due to the fact that it is more difficult to find the small print on large monitors.
And nothing will happen
Complaints about random subscriptions and redirects come not only to the cellular operator, but also to us as browser developers. Ignoring them would be wrong, so some time ago we started looking for a solution to the problem. First of all, we have prepared an instruction that will help users to unsubscribe from the services. And today we are ready to announce the next step.
In fact, subscription to paid content occurs only on a limited number of hosts owned by cellular operators. Now, if the user is transferred to such a page, then Yandex.Browser will warn you and ask you to confirm your desire.
For our team it was important not only to protect people from unconscious spending, but also to draw their attention to the problem itself. If a person as a result of thinking about mobile subscriptions and their own care, it will help him avoid problems in the future.
We are interested to know the opinion of the community about this problem and how to solve it.
This warning is already working in Yandex Browser for iOS , Windows, OS X , as well as in beta for Android . In the near future, we plan to roll out this update on all Browser users.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/273385/
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