Is Our Long Digital Nightmare Coming To An End?

I can think of nothing that has done more harm to the internet than adtech.

It is a plague. It interferes with virtually everything we try to do on the web. It has cheapened and debased advertising. It has helped spawn criminal empires. It is in part responsible for unprecedented fraud and corruption. It has turned marketing executives into clueless baboons. And it is destroying the idea of privacy, one of the backbones of democracy.

And for what? 8 clicks in 10,000 impressions?

But maybe there is hope for those of us who hate adtech.

The era of creepy tracking, maddening pop-ups and auto-play, and horrible banners may be drawing to its rightful conclusion.

According to Doc Searls, one of the smartest guys who's ever made the impenetrable comprehensible, the tide is turning against adtech.

In a recent post on his blog, Doc says Apple's new iOS platform will enable developers to develop apps that allow...

"...much more control over unwanted content than is provided currently by ad and tracking blockers on Web browsers, and does it at the system level, rather than at the browser level."

Doc goes on to say,

"...content blocking is chemo for the cancer of adtech."

Let's hope Doc is right. There is plenty of room on the web for responsible advertising without the Frankenstein of adtech.

Be sure to read Doc's full piece here.