&gt; Likewise, the unauthenticated, un-paid-for Web has permitted frictionless composition and repurpose of content without the need to &#x27;do deals&#x27;.<p>Yes, but...<p>&gt;  Beyond just the consumer issue, a non-Ad supported web would have severely limited its evolution, by forcing content to require authentication.<p>Having no ads would have eliminated one of the several means of funding content that doesn&#x27;t require authentication -- but ads aren&#x27;t the only mechanism that doesn&#x27;t require authentication -- and, yes, any limitation in available models would have limited the ways in which the web <i>could</i> evolve, by changing the opportunity space.