Is it safe to assume that web sites are responsible for the any content that attempts to download onto your computer?

I ask because for that past few days every time I go to MLB dot com (and I've been going there every day for... well forever lol) I get the notice asking do I want to open or save a file. (See screenshot).

Is it safe to assume that MLB is aware of this and approves of this or is it more likely that they're not aware of it??? (Again, this has been going on for several DAYS, so I'm left thinking they must be aware of and therefore approve of this).

And more importantly, is there any way (other than no longer going to mlb.com or allowing it to download) to stop it?

Try clearing the cookies in you web browser. On your IE go to Tools then under Safety click on Delete Browsing History. Just put a check on Cookies and website data and then click the Delete button. Then try opening the website again to see if it is still prompting to open or save a file.

Thanks. I tried it, but it didn't work. I did have to sign in again when I came here, can I expect that at all of the sites I frequent?

It looks like it's some sort of javascript that is indeed a marketing/tracking type of thing. I just don't know whether to contact mlb dot com and give them a good piece of my mind or whether it's something that is external to mlb dot com (hard to believe since that's the only sight this thing keeps showing up at).

I thought it might help but unfortunately it didn't and apologies as I should have informed you beforehand that it clears all cached info for websites which includes login credentials. From what I read this seems to be an issue more prevalent on IE and with a different browser you might not get the same prompt so I don't think mlb.com is liable as you may get the prompt on other websites as well.

Maybe it's being sent with the wrong MIME type...?

It's fine, I would've still tried it, I just wanted to confirm that this was the cause for it, otherwise I'd be back on here tomorrow thinking I've got some other problem and posting a question about why all of a sudden all the sites I frequent are asking me to login again.... LOL

EDIT: Oh, and I'm also no longer logged in at mlb dot com, yet STILL that file tries to download, even though I'm not logged in. That seems.... interesting... to me.

You should install Adblock Plus for Internet Explorer if you haven't already and maybe that might stop it from trying to download the file as it blocks malware domains.

https://adblockplus.org/

That's a JavaScript file that's being handled incorrectly. Either because of a wrong MIME type (as VanishedOne said) or because IE is being derpy...

I expect Vanished is correct, too.

Adblock reports one of the three truste scripts on the page as an image. (Note that you won't even see the truste scripts listed unless you disable adblock in the first place, as they are loaded by some other component that adblock stops.)

Anyway, I can confirm that adblock stops the nonsense on Firefox. No idea how it performs on IE. If you don't want to install adblock, you might try adding truste.com (or perhaps choices.truste.com) to IE's list of restricted sites. Sorry, I haven't confirmed this myself as I have no patience for IE.

Google says choices.truste.com is an ad service and has a history of shitty JavaScripts, so block away...

That's weird. In this case it would appear to be coming from MLB.com, I don't see any ads on the page that would otherwise be doing that sort of thing.

EDIT: Otherwise you've likely either got a virus or some sort of adware in the browser.

UPDATE: So, I contacted MLB.com about the issue, and about an hour later received an email saying basically it wasn't an MLB.com issue and that it was instead likely a browser issue and suggested the same thing folks in this thread suggested, and that was to use an ad blocker.

Now all that may be true, but here's the thing. I went to: mlb.com, counterpunch.org, gog.com, Citibank.com, middleburgbank.com, discover.com, truthout.org, NIH.com (or .gov maybe, it's national institute of health), plus some more, and the ONLY website that had this happen was.... mlb.com. So as an end user, we see what we see, and then get a response like that, and it's only natural to say BULLSHIT. I would bet 90% of people who experienced the same thing would come to the conclusion that, um, it has SOMETHING to do with mlb.com.

So, pissed, I just forgot about it. Then when I went back there just now to check final scores for tonight, it's gone. Mmmmm, so it's there for a few days, then after contacted about it, it's gone. But yet it has nothing to do with mlb.com.

Again, any rational person would look at those facts and come to the conclusion that it did indeed have something to do with mlb.com. I say all this to point out to IT types that just because you know and understand things better than most, and just because it may be technically true that what we end users see isn't necessarily what is happening, I think you would do better by putting yourselves in our shoes and realizing that a response like I got from mlb.com is going to be received with a loud BULLSHIT from most receiving and maybe a better response could be given.

Anyway, it's gone now. Which is good. I plus oned al the posts in this thread because I didn't really know who to assign the "solution" too since it seems to have worked itself out. Wish I could give all of you 5 points each, I really do appreciate it when you try and help out an idiot like me. THANK YOU.

When I looked at that script, it was tied to the National Car Rental adverts. So now that those ads have cycled out, the associated [broken] scripts have gone, too. It's likely that this was just standard ad cycling rather than any response to your complaint.

MLB hires out space to ad companies, and probably doesn't have any direct control over the results. Still, the problem was on their site (just created by an ad company), and you addressed the complaint to the right people. It's pretty certain that the person who dismissed your complaint either tested the site after the ads had cycled out, or just didn't know what they were doing. Maybe both.