[PaulDavisThe1st]

For print circulation, there are two choices: the publisher can report their actual numbers or they can participate in fraud (by lying about it). The latter has real legal consequences attached to it. They might bet on never being found out; I am guessing that most do not.

For online "circulation", there are three choices: the two given above, plus the possibility that the "actual numbers" (e.g. generated from server logs) do not reflect what they appear to (ie. bot visits). This is "problem" that tracking seeks to fix, by avoiding a "circulation data source" (page visits) that isn't (and cannot be) reliable.

[lucideer]

Bot visits need incentives. There's two:

1. the current incentive where individual brands can defraud ad exchanges' pay-per-x systems. Without pay-per-x this incentive disappears.

2. publishers defrauding advertisers. This has similar cost & risk ratios online as either misreporting numbers or bulk-buying papers does in real life. There's also very little tangible difference between the ability of authorities or legal agents to enforce honest reporting of numbers online and in print. The two scenarios are eminently comparable.

Ultimately, removing pay-per-x brings online ads and the ability to defraud advertisers down to a level of equivalence with print.

[PaulDavisThe1st]

There is no honest reporting of numbers online without some sort of tracking.

[emodendroket]

Not only that. I’m potentially publishing across many sites I haven’t verified. A well known newspaper seems unlikely to engage in outright fraud, but someone I don’t even know, why should I trust them?