Ethan Zuckerman argues that advertising represents the core failure of the web, as the chosen model for supporting online content resulted in a negative transformation. Users have learned to accept data aggregation and manipulation as part of their online experience, despite ongoing debates about privacy and control. Marc Andreessen reflects on the early intentions for the web, noting that the inability to embed payment mechanisms led to the ascendance of advertising as the primary revenue model, highlighting significant early miscalculations in web economics.
I have come to believe that advertising is the original sin of the web. The fallen state of our Internet is a direct, if unintentional, consequence of choosing advertising as the default model.
One would think the most obvious thing to do would be building in the browser the ability to actually spend money, right? You'll notice that didn't happen, and in a lot of ways, we don't even think it's unusual.
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