Coders Edge
  
Concurrent Lists

How to break the Internet
     There are many things in life that we accept just as they are.  For
example, we might not like the current configuration of elected officials, but
we accept it for what it is and deal with as it is until the next election.  In
the case of created things, we modify them, and evolve them, so that they better
suit a simple functionality.  This is how engineering works.  
In the case of the Internet the question was always asked:  how can we make
money doing this?
     The solution was not something that I liked:  but put Advertisements. 
However, that solution did work. Now we have very many websites that are
financed by Advertisements.  (I haven't done this.  Call it a hang-up, but I
reserve the right to do it in the future).
The thing about Advertisement is that it allows for all kinds of other uses for
a site.  Suddenly the advertisers get a hit at their site telling them of my
web-surfing activities when ever I go to a page wher e their ad appears.  And
their ad ads bytes to my downloading.  Some call that 'bandwidth'.
     I can, using domain name methods to block the content from the advertiser's
websites.  Pages might not know that you are not getting the ads.  Nor do the
advertisers then pay the site for the ad (it has to work like this).  And so
blocking the advertisers URL means that I will not have the ad shown to me and
that site is thus not getting funds in that manner from my visit.
Fortunately for advertisers and for websites that use advertising to fund them,
most people will not do this kind of URL blocking.  They have no incentive. 
People don't need to block, the ads don't bother them.  But as ads become
increasingly high-bandwidth, there will be incentive to block them:  to speed up
the web experience.  And if we have to pay for bandwidth, there will be an
incentive to block high-bandwidth ads so we don't have to pay for that
bandwidth. 
     But it is the ad revenue that is paying for sites.  And the ad revenue is a
necessary part.  So, even though I don't like advertisements blaring at me, I
recognize their necessity.
     The current FCC chairman is floating the idea that folks should be forced
to pay for amount of bandwidth.  If that happens the incentive to block ads will
be great.  And, probably, most users will do this to save money.  And thus, the
model of web-ads paying for sites will no longer be valid.  The FCC chairman's
idea essentially would break the Internet in that sites will not longer be able
to fund themselves through ad revenue.  Everyone will be blocking ad-site URL's
in the hosts file to save money.  There may even be routers and networks that
will do this as a matter of course.  

  WP Dec 13, 2010