Online advertising can be controversial for different reasons to different people. Entrepreneurs and small companies with less money and resources than larger competitors must be able to generate some type of revenue from their business, and online advertising can be not only nice to have, but necessary for the survival of the business (especially for smaller tech companies that specialize in providing services online). However, pop-ups can be very annoying, and imagine unwanted pop-ups relating to all sorts of random things, popping up on every page you visited. Such advertisements are not only annoying and time-consuming—they can also sometimes make your computer or other electronic device vulnerable to hackers, phishing attacks, etc.
There is some truth to the Internet meme that “if you’re not paying for it, you’re not the customer; you’re the product being sold.” When we visit a website, we’re not going there for the advertisements—and in a way, the company allowing such advertisements to be put up on its site is “selling” us, its users, to advertisers (advertisers, by paying the owner of the site to put up advertisements, are “buying” users). However, when we visit a website, we are going there for whatever that site provides—and it is not free for the site to provide that information. The site has to have money to pay to have all that stuff on its site, so maybe it is implied that by going to the site, we are also accepting pop-up ads.
I do think it is okay for companies to collect information and data-mine it to better sell us products and services, but with some limits. For example, I think it is fair that Facebook collects our personal information as we continue to use the site, so Facebook can provide us personalized experiences (i.e. friendship anniversary videos). However, I do not believe that companies that collect our data and use it because we use their services should be able to sell that information to other people without our permission. My personal information should stay my own—I’m not a product to be bought and sold freely on an open market. However, I would expect a site that I’m using to collect and use my information to see what kind of user I am. If the site provides a service, them always trying to improve my experience based on data I generate would be a good thing.
I do think that privacy becomes an unrealistic expectation to some degree. Especially with the Snowden NSA leaks, I think many Americans may feel a little hopeless when it comes to privacy (i.e. some people even cover their laptop cameras now).
I think that online advertising is fine the way it is. I always have Adblocker on, which blocks unwanted pop-ups. However, there are plenty of ads that aren’t “popup” and that can’t be blocked, so companies complaining about Adblocker killing their revenue should maybe explore advertising options that stay scripted to the site’s screen, regardless of Adblocker.