Re: What they *could* do ...
@Nigel 11
Absolutely. I actually wrote something similar but cut it to reduce the length.
A site wishing to ensure ads were delivered could render each page request as an image and then get that to display. Of course, you'd have no animation and links would be hard but hey do have that option.
In the end, the way HTTP/HTML works allows for all manner of flexibility and dynamic content and links to other bits and bobs like ads and javascript to count page views and so forth. But, it also allows flexibility from the user end.
Advertisers and 'content' companies would love to turn the web into a controlled broadcast medium. It's not. That's called TV.
Ad blocking software is a reaction to the explosion of advertisement on the web and the increasing obtrusiveness of it. We get pop-ups that take over our whole screen and the content we want pushed down or across the page by animated ads that take our bandwidth and are a major vector for malware. They are also increasingly gathering our personal information to display more 'relevant' ads.
Some people will always hate ads and won't stand for any. But, the majority, I feel, understand the realities of economics and would be fine with having ads if they stayed low-key and non-dynamic.
Instead, many sites simply assign space to Google to display whatever ads Google decided you are most likely to click, based on the personal information it has on you. That is not on, for me at least. These sites are not displaying ads so much as renting out space on their site to a third-party.
I feel sorry for those sites that are in the 'good' category, so far as advertising goes, but they are unfortunately suffering because of the greed and lack of consideration for site visitors that so many other sites have seemingly adopted as a business model.