That data and content is (near) worthless if they can't serve up ads against it.

That's facebook's problem, not the user's.

You've got it exactly backwards. The service is free, ergo you are the product, ergo Facebook's problems are your problems.

You have three choices:

1. Stop using Facebook

2. Pay Facebook to remove ads

3. Look at ads

I've opted for option 1, though I'll happily revisit this choice if Facebook (A) finds a way to make money without serving ads and without requiring me to pay out-of-pocket (unlikely) or (B) Facebook starts serving ads I want to consume. (Welcome to native advertising.)

Facebook's problems, which are my problems, are solved by opting for choice #4: use an ad-blocker.

Now this seems going to end very shortly

Indeed. An oversight on my part.

4. Use Facebook anyways, and render its markup on my computer and my internet connection as I see fit.

I'd happily pay for Facebook, but then it shouldn't just be ad-free, I'd also want to be fairly sure that my info isn't sold to third parties either (not my existing data at FB, nor new data collected after I became a paying customer).

Is option 2 even possible at the moment?

No -- admittedly I'm mixing hypotheticals with existing solutions, but the point remains valid.

> but the point remains valid.

No it doesn't, exactly the point, you can't pay them so you have no transactional or business relation, in fact one SHOULD block the ads that are forced upon you. Linkedin for example prohibit adblocking in their TOS, they can do this because you can pay them to get rid of the ads.

That wasn't the point.

The point was that Facebook's problems are de facto the user's problems. Ad-blocking is, indeed, a solution, but one can't expect Facebook to (re)act in the user's interest.

And Facebook is acting on that problem.

I don't think that this was questioned here.

What good is your personal information if it's not to show you personalized ads?

They can sell it to third parties, who can in turn show ads on other sites.

What's the value of your personal data and content if they can't use it to target ads to you?

What's the value of FB of it does not have people's personal data on it?

Because it pays their bills and salaries?

The only real reason need your personal data is so they can show you Ads with presumably more effective targeting so they can get a greater share of advertising revenue.

It pays to remember that most forms of media - TV, Net, Print etc. are basically funded by money from advertisers.

It pays their bills right. They would have to move the advertising into real world. Essentially "Minority Report" version of advertising. Unless users stop owning their machines there will always be ways to block the ads.