the web was directly bolted on top of the classic client-server network model. there was no concept of a website, just a bunch of requests needed to render what

the web was directly bolted on top of the classic client-server network model. there was no concept of a website, just a bunch of requests needed to render whatever the markup (and the dynamic scripting stuff) wanted. the interaction of those is completely left as an exercise to the (standards) readers. initially only remote code execution was a problem (eg. cross-site scripting), then the usual cross-site request forgery problems. and sure, there was all the usual gimmicks with list of sites you probably visited because it was possible to fingerprint by CSS plus exploiting cache timings. initially framesets were all the jazz. you got free hosting and the provider just put your stuff inside a FRAME and the ad went above in a different frame. serious sites had money to pay for hosting and SSL certs. and even if someone stole some credit card numbers the solution was easy, just use paypal! privacy was seen as something to think about only when someone asked you a/s/l (age, sex, location), so basically when interacting with other humans in chat rooms (or on forums). ... of course slowly but surely software (more exactly the Internet) is eating the world. being online is the default. Alphabet, the 8th on the Fortune 500 list doesn't even have brick and mortar stores (oh well, there's one in NYC and during this year's Google I/O they announced the second, also in NYC).