If such detection becomes commonplace, there will be escalation. Adblocker/replacer software will go the next step of downloading the ads, but then handing over appropriately sized transparent .pngs to the browser. Ultimately it is a fight the advertisers can't win as long as users have full control over their own computers.
I welcome it. The current ad-based economic system is a "stalker economy" that carries an enormous hidden cost that all of society ends up bearing (loss of privacy leads to losses of creativity and stagnation of political reform). The sooner we get the ad middle-men out of the loop, the sooner we can start building services with customers who are people, not corporate advertising budgets.
But what would be a reasonable revenue model?
I don't want to buy a subscription to every website someone posts a link to on HN, just so that I can read it.
There isn't a single model that will fit all cases. But for your specific example, micropayments.
Advertising has kind of starved out the development of micropayment systems over the last decade, but it looks like bitcoin has a chance at filling that niche.
I welcome it. The current ad-based economic system is a "stalker economy" that carries an enormous hidden cost that all of society ends up bearing (loss of privacy leads to losses of creativity and stagnation of political reform). The sooner we get the ad middle-men out of the loop, the sooner we can start building services with customers who are people, not corporate advertising budgets.