Re:Ad Blocking: The Unnecessary Internet Apocalypse
by gordjw on Wednesday September 23, 2015 @07:26AM
(#10264362)
Exactly, there was a strong amateur community with excellent content before ads were anything more than blogrolls and cross linking.
Without ads, maybe we lose some of the purely commercial sites, but I'm completely sure that strong communities will continue to exist without ads.
Re:Ad Blocking: The Unnecessary Internet Apocalypse
by mbubb on Wednesday September 23, 2015 @08:24AM
(#10264567)
This is the key point. Is that assertion true or not? Wonder if there is a good economic analysis of 'what keeps the lights on'. Looking at the internet giants like GOOG, FB, AMZN advertising is a big part of their model.
Re:Ad Blocking: The Unnecessary Internet Apocalypse
by markyc on Wednesday September 23, 2015 @07:58AM
(#10264464)
why would paywalls give us privacy? if anything they can track us even more
Re:Ad Blocking: The Unnecessary Internet Apocalypse
by untothebreach on Wednesday September 23, 2015 @08:28AM
(#10264586)
This is very true. I think the distinction is consent, and choosing who you give up privacy for. When I visit a web page, I don't know whether the page is going to track me or not. By the time I find out, it is too late, my visit has already been recorded. When I give a publisher/content-creator/whatever money, I am agreeing to enter into a transaction with them, and I expect that they will have a record of that transaction.
Re:Ad Blocking: The Unnecessary Internet Apocalypse
by markyc on Wednesday September 23, 2015 @09:22AM
(#10264815)
makes sense
I wonder if this whole "front-end" blocking will just push things to the back-end.
How long until websites start sharing back-end tracking data between themselves?
Re:Ad Blocking: The Unnecessary Internet Apocalypse
by untothebreach on Wednesday September 23, 2015 @09:48AM
(#10264927)
I have heard anecdotal stories about companies being asked to put reverse proxies on their networks in order to make the ads "first-party." Seems like that will be the next step in the arms race.
I find this a bit of a weird premise. Advertising can pay only for so much (at most a few cents per view). What if content owners want to be paid a little more? Should they suddenly change their complete income model? The answer should be: of course not! But currently the answer is: yes. In my view we should get rid of this strange incontinuity and get rid of ads altogether. Yes, it may mean we will pay for content, but at least it will give us privacy, a healthy market, no annoying ads, customer rights, and most of all, it may improve the quality of content. Also, don't forget that free content will also happily coexist with this model.