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I’m not the only one who’s noticed.

Internet Explorer 7 blocking Google AdSense

IE7 disables javascript with the security setting on “high”, which would not allow AdSense ads to show along with numerous features of most websites. IE6 works exactly the same and the phenomenon is definitely not specific to Google AdSense. It is likely that whomever did the test had their security setting on “high”. However, this is not the default setting and we believe most users would not have a good experience on the web having javascript blocked.

I tested with the security setting at Medium-High and Medium and had the same issue, so it’s not just a problem with High security.

And some insight on Internet Explorer 8 which will apparently be doing the same thing. Now, yes, I can see how security experts would be skeptical of AdSense as being a form of spyware, but you could also (and I would think perhaps more successfully) argue that Google Analytics is even worse. (And yes, putting the two together is even worse)

That said, I (and many others) use Google AdSense to make a little extra cash from blogging (not from this blog, mind you, despite the presence of ads in some browsers). I prefer Google’s ads to just about any sort of display advertising which is usually just distracting or annoying, and the face that Firefox, Safari, and Opera (and obviously Chrome) don’t seem to have any issues with displaying Google Ads does make me leary. Microsoft has been known to be fairly anti-trusting in the past, and while the links above explain that the security measures affect more than just Google Ads, my guess would be that the Internet Explorer test suite includes a “security test” that makes sure that Google Ads aren’t showing up.