Sunday, May 29, 2016

Replacement of Google's ad frames by ads sold by ISPs' - coupled with revenue-sharing with customers - can hurt Google

Suppose a large ISP filters out all Google ad frames from all the websites/webpages being served to its customers [at network level], and replaces those with ads that it has itself sold. Now suppose that a nation's largest ISPs collude and carry out the same practice, with a common platform on which ads are bought and sold. This possibility seems real and seems like it would quickly and materially threaten ad-dependent non-ISP companies like Google. Customer consent for this practice can be obtained by promising revenue-sharing [ad revenue shared with both publishers and consumers].

It's to be noted that any argument that an ad-blocker installed on a user's Web browser represents a conscious choice made by the user whereas network-level blocking/replacement of ads by an ISP represents a choice forced upon users by ISPs [and that this violates net-neutrality] is an illogical argument if you mix one key ingredient - opt-in performed by users. In this case, the network-level blocking/replacement effectively becomes a case of the ad-blocker being installed "in the Cloud" rather than on the PC.




Monday, May 16, 2016

Innocent-looking faces of the most rotten top officials of America

Perhaps they purposely choose those folks who have sober-looking faces for the positions where an obscene level of corruption and heartlessness are required. And of course, their newspapers choose photos which make these rascals look nice and gentle and elegant, hiding away all the filth and scum inside.