[manigandham]

>>> Also, the article specifically discussed the terrible power efficency that is always going to be associated with the extra transfer and processing associated with fetching ads. Or do you think they get to violate conservation on energy to be downloaded? If you are adding ad to a page, you are making the client pay more to see it. Offloading costs like this - while pretending it is efficient - should really be criminal.

These are externalities. Do you get upset that articles have images in them? What about products coming in packaging that you just throw away? Isn't that gas and energy you are wasting on something you don't want?

Power efficiency of ads is really not that big of a deal.

>>> Bullshit, and you know it.

I was talking about the effort involved in choosing to pay for each pageview. Not ad formats. I believe you're conflating the two together.

>>> The very idea of advertising is to be distracting.

Actually the idea is to gain your attention. And yes, we already know this because it's quite literally what advertisers are paying for. Your attention.

>>> advertising went from simple banners, to popups, to various other dynamic rendering tricks

Yes, this is an implementation issue where ads have gotten out of hand. I agree with you that we need to return to better standards. However this doesn't mean the advertising model is broken. It's still magnitudes less effort required than having to decide to pay everytime you load a new page.

>>> to ignore ads

The point isn't to ignore ads. Advertisers are paying for your attention which pays for the content. It obviously wouldn't be a very good model if they never got the attention that they paid for. Yes it takes energy to ignore, also takes energy to choose to pay. Ads are generally easier to deal with.

>>> when advertising is the vector

Everything is a vector. Pick any object in the world. It's a vector for use by a criminal. We should focus on stopping the criminals, not banning everything.

>>> leaking tracking information makes you malware

Genuinely don't understand this. What tracking information and what is harming you?

[pdkl95]

> Power efficiency of ads is really not that big of a deal.

Saying that doesn't make it true. The article says otherwise, and I believe it. I really don''t understand how you think this could be true.

Also "not that big of a deal"? So you think it's fine if I quietly tap into your power lines and steal some of your electricity, as long as it's only a small amount that "isn't that big of a deal"?

> Do you get upset that articles have images in them?

Do you have a hard time understanding the differenced between the content I requested, and crap added in that has nothing to do with the content I requested, which is specifically designed to distract me from that content?

If you truly cannot see the difference here, I don't know how to help you.

> I believe you're conflating the what I mentioned about the effort involved in choosing to pay vs types of annoying ad formats.

NO, I am NOT.

The type of ad format isn't particularly relevant. Advertising - any type - is by definition designed to distract people that see them, and it takes a significant mental effort to work around these distractions.

Be aware that if you want to argue against this point, you're challenging one of the basic laws of marketing as it has been practiced for many decades.

> Actually the idea is to gain your attention.

Thank you for admitting advertising is trying to be distracting. That is, the opposite of "passive". You seem to be arguing against your previous claims.

> having to decide to pay every time you load a new page.

This is a complete straw-man argument. You're suggesting that "paying every time" is the only alternative to advertising, which is patent nonsense. Even in the case of a paywall model, nobody would "pay every time"; subscription models have always existed.

Are you going to pretend that Patreon doesn't exist? Many models of funding exist and are being used successfully.

> Everything is a vector.

If you don't understand the concept of minimizing the attack surface, you really should refrain from making security claims. Advertising is adding additional attack vectors.

Besides, it is incredibly dishonest to try to say advertising is on equal footing here. Ad networks have been the vector of choice for a long time. Some of that is because of their utter disregard for security. They are also chosen as a vector because ad networks by definition reach a wide audience.

> What tracking information and what is harming you?

I'm not sure how to respond to this. Are you seriously ignorant of the tracking done by ad networks? Or did you miss the last few years of data breeches that expose information and the powerful new machine learning tools we have to analyze large databases?

If you are gathering information - ANY information - about what people do on the internet, you are creating a target. If you are aggregating that information - again, ANY information - across sites, even if you supposedly anonymize[1] it, you are creating datasets that are the most tempting target imaginable for insurance companies, extortionists, stalkers, and governments with national security letters.

In a sane world, you would be liable for any damage caused by that database you created.

[1] As DJB says[2], "Hashing is Magic Crypto Pixie Dust, which takes personally identifiable information, and makes it incomprehensible to the marketing department."

[2] https://projectbullrun.org/surveillance/2015/video-2015.html...

[manigandham]

I honestly believe you're either taking this personally and/or using emotional arguments from some deep hatred of advertising. Nevertheless I hope this clears it up for you:

---

Advertising is meant to gain your attention. This is not a secret conspiracy, it is quite literally the entire business. That being said, there is vast differential in the amount of energy expended in ignoring content vs the amount needed to make a willful decision of how to value and purchase said content.

Subscriptions are actually even harder to decide on because they are a much higher cost that requires a commitment with a single outlet and trust that their quality will continue to be to your liking vs a single article.

Patreon is not an alternative funding model - it is still direct payment/funds transfer. It's just optional. It's also not viable for any scalable business. Not everything can or should be a small little site.

Advertising is packaged with content because the publisher owns the right to that content and how it's distributed. This is the same in every other medium ever invented. Same with any other product you buy. You get it as it comes. If you're not compensating that advertiser for that content directly, then they have every right to include advertising to offset the cost of creating and distributing that content to you which you requested. Would you rather they deny your request?

Everything is a security risk. You should stay in a nuclear bunker and off the internet to truly minimize surface area. However that's not realistic. Ad networks definitely have an implementation problem with not enough standards on malware testing, and yes they're a good choice because of their scale. However guns are also efficient at killing and cars are efficient at escaping, should we also get rid of both because they're used by criminals?

Any database containing data and thus value becomes a target. Should we also stop creating any kind of database because it might become a potential target? So medical records, court proceedings, tax records, insurance claims and every other database should immediately be destroyed because someone might want to access it? Again the real problem here is the fact that criminals will be criminals, not the tools they use or targets they go after. There should absolutely be more safeguards with ad networks along with liability as I've stated in previous posts (and I'm doing my best to make that happen) but arguing that we should get rid of the advertising model because of some security issues does not make sense.

[pdkl95]

If I was taking this personally, this reply would simply be a flame (or I wouldn't have bothered). I am writing this reply for the same reason I write most of my posts here on HN: education, and the hope that the tech industry can be redirected away from the problems the industry has cultivated in the last decade(s).

> This is not a secret conspiracy.

I never said anything close to that, and I'm not sure whee you got that idea from.

> Not everything can or should be a small little site.

Obviously. Many things can be done small scale, and some people even prefer that for a varietyh of reasons. Patronage is an alternative funding model. It should go without saying that there isn't a 1-to-1 mapping between possible funding models and the projects that want funding. Clearly patronage will only work for some situations.

> they have every right to include advertising to offset the cost of creating and distributing that content to you which you requested

Yes, they do.

Just like the end-user to which they gave a copy of their content has every right to view that advertising, or cut it out, or pay someone to cut it out, or simply decide they want to go somewhere else. Creative works have a copyright, which does not extend to use.

Advertising has always involved risk.

> security

If you want to actually learn the problems of the digital exhaust (or data trail) we leave behind, I suggest listening to some of Dan Geer's talks in the last 1-2 years. The only reason this isn't a problem right now is that the tech is still new. However, the last year of leaks and compromised databases has shown that the peace will not last.

> criminals will be criminals

Yes. Exactly. Which is why it is important to not let power concentrate, and the databases that advertisers are building (with Google and Facebook at the top) are a power that is new to the human experience. The solution is to limit how much damage an be done by limiting how much data can be aggregated.

You might characterize my goals here as a type of self regulation, as I fear the blowback as people finally figure out what technology has been doing. The alternative to self regulation is some type of Butlerian Jihad (probably misguided and poorly targeted). This isn't really hyperbole as these are two extremes and reality is usually somewhere in the middle. That said, when I talk to non-technical people about how modern tech works (adsense, other tracking by ad networks/etc, "smart" TVs, and other supposedly-"free" services), there is a common first reaction: "Why aren't they in jail?"

> guns

Are a bad comparison in many ways. The risk from a criminal with a gun stops after they are caught. The entire problem with data is that it is a permanent risk.

> (and I'm doing my best to make that happen)

For that, my applause and thanks!

> arguing that we should get rid of the advertising model

That is not my goal! Your replies are often arguing with straw men.

I believed advertising is on shaky ground now that General Purpose Computer has given powerful tools let people view data as they desire. Adblocking is only the beginning. This is a pragmatic statement, because I've been watching a backlash against advertising happen for several years now. However, advertising will never go away entirely, as it is one of the useful funding models.

My point in arguing is a refutation of the well-known fallacies and talking points in your initial post. You have argued against some (that advertising is in any way passive - as you say, it is "meant to gain your attention"). You have also made some patently false claims about power and anonymity (HTTP requests are generally not anonymous, even without the crazy tracking that the ad networks do). You also have made numerous claims that elevate advertising as the only or majority option for funding something on the network. I've already mentioned security above.

These specific claims are what I have a serious problem with. Quite a few funding models exist, and many variations are being explored. This is one of the huge benefits of modern technology: it made available so many more options in every area, including business models. The human experience with internetworking is still in its infancy, and I suspect we haven't even discovered the best ways of utilizing the network for business purposes.