These so-called "tech" companies would have people believe that "this is what people want" and they are just giving it to them. But if people want something th

These so-called "tech" companies would have people believe that "this is what people want" and they are just giving it to them. But if people want something that has little to no value in the online ad services business, and there are countless examples of such things, then the so-called "tech" companies may refuse to deliver it, or more likely, they may choose to rearrange what is delivered such that the content most useful to the online advertising services business is delivered first and displayed prominantly, with the rest hidden or difficult to find. Several days ago there was an HN comment arguing that the www needs curation. The www has "curation". This is performed by so-called "tech" companies operating as unnecessary intermediaries in the inteerests of collecting data and selling online ad services. Maybe this is not of the kind of "curation" that www users want. It is "curation" (or "filtering", "moderation", or what ever one choose to call it) nonetheless._ To use a silly analogy, consider billbooards. Billboard companies may be useful for their role in information distribution. The public pays nothing for this "service". But billboards are not free. Advertisers pay to use them. The information displayed on billboards is generally commercial in nature. The public pays for roads, not the billboard companies. The public does not drive on these roads to see billboards, the roads have other, more important utility. The billboard companies piggyback on a public resource: roadways. The www and the internet in general has utility other than as a medium or vector for collecting data surreptitiously and disseminating advertising. Silicon Valley's so-called "tech" company intermediaries offer "services" that make the internet "easier to use" and are marketed as "free". But like billboards, the intermediaries' computer systems are not free. Advertisers pay for these ad services systems. The public pays for the internet to which they connect and use as a medium//vector. The intermediaries piggyback on a public resource: the internet. Perhaps the public has forgotten the utility of the internet without advertising. Trillion dollar "billboard companies" have made the public forget about the public resource that they are paying for. Imagine if, pre-internet, every road was lined from start to finish with billboards and billboard companies tracked drivers everywhere they travelled. The roads work fine without billboards. The internet works fine without advertising. But the online advertising services industry, the trillion dollar "billboard companies", i.e., Silicon Valley, disagrees.