Is overlay the new window popup?

[Joseph Querijero]

I'm not sure who started this trend. It might have been a nice feature for web based application to display additional information on the fly. But the use of overlay ads is now becoming more troublesome than just annoying in my opinion.

- Some doesn't even let you proceed without clicking it then be automatically taken to the another website.

- Some doesn't test their overlay on small devices in which the close button is not accessible.

- The same phishing/scam that used to popup "offcial" looking window to fool unsuspecting users is now able to display almost the same thing because most overlay support rich content.

- And yes, even well-known respectable organizations use it.   

With Flash, one of the purveyors of overlay, going to the sideline, is it time, at worse, to relegate this HTML feature to the dust bin just like popup windows or, at best, re-think this feature to limit the abuse of it's usage?