<i>The internet itself wouldn&#x27;t even exist without ads.</i><p>I hope you are joking, or knowingly exaggerating.  The internet was around waaaayyyyy before ads.  Even when hte internet became a conduit for commerce, the first ads were just banners that advertisers bought on a (usually) related web page.  Kind of like newspapers.<p>Then Google decided that they would show ads based on what people were looking for.  Rather than guessing my interests because I&#x27;m on the West Marine web page, they will show me ads related to my search inquiry.  Starts to get a little creepy, but as long as they don&#x27;t save my queries it&#x27;s probably ok.<p>&lt;insert a montage&#x2F;&gt;<p>And now we are where we are today.