[dwaltrip]

Is it unethical to avoid looking at billboards?

If not, what if I had a special pair of glasses that obscured such billboards or other physical advertising? It's not possible today, but not that hard to imagine in the near future.

How are these situations different from blocking ads on the web?

[kevinh]

To my knowledge, billboards don't fund roads. Unless they are the exclusive source of revenue for roads, the situations aren't really comparable.

[butteroverflow]

Ads don't fund the communication networks as far as I am aware. Last time I checked, my internet bill wasn't paid by me looking at ads.

[dwaltrip]

Ah, that is a good point. They aren't comparable on that aspect.

I would argue they are still comparable in terms of "autonomy of attention".