Re:Some ad-blockers are tracking you, shaking down publisher...
by bediger4000 on Thursday March 03, 2016 @10:53AM
(#11217570)
You're idealizing precisely the kind of Internet the propagandists want, one that's too small to challenge any of the established groups.
That's arguably a valid point. Now I'm going to have to think about it, while dnsmasq, uBlock and Privacy badger block a bunch of ads for me.
You mean it was better when it was full of corporations which weren't trying to sell things to you.
The Web, and the Internet as a whole, were founded on a cooperation between governments, non-profit or not-for-profit or not-explicitly-profit-maximizing corporations (universities and research institutions, mainly), and, yes, profit-seeking corporations (BBN being an early one, as was Symbolics) from day one.
It was more genteel, perhaps, and there were AUPs in the early days which cut down on some of the more blatant advertising, but it was also narrow, niche, and nonthreatening. Nobody feared that their misdeeds would be exposed by something posted on the Internet. It was a pet project to allow researchers to share mainframes with a minimum of friction.
You're idealizing precisely the kind of Internet the propagandists want, one that's too small to challenge any of the established groups.