[kibwen]

This scenario assumes that the value of ads would be driven completely to zero if tracking were not possible. For any non-zero value advertisers will still back out as they stop seeing returns, at which point ad-space-sellers will be forced to lower to their rates. This is still fully capable of effectively driving low-margin ad-supported websites out of business, but it's not a doomsday scenario.

[brandnewlow]

"This is still fully capable of effectively driving low-margin ad-supported websites out of business, but it's not a doomsday scenario."

Right. That's a scenario I wish the privacy advocate folks at places like Mozilla were more up front about.

[narrowrail]

Broadcast television still works and doesn't have these granular tracking abilities. I wonder if the principles they've used could be a blueprint to follow. The example will only be more relevant as market share shifts from broadcast tv to web-based alternatives.

[Animats]

Right. Also, the cost of computing has dropped so much in the last decade that running a social network without ads or tracking, such as Ello, is now possible. What we may see is a major social network that's like Craiglist - very cheap, a very small organization (30 people!), and very popular.

You can now beat "free with ads" on price. This is important.