It all comes down to consent. I should be able to install a browser plugin that blocks ads entirely, or a plugin that replaces their ads with ones more relevant to me.
This is not a new technique, there have been adware/spyware apps for nearly a decade that do similar things. The ones that do it openly as a "legitimate business" claim the user consented, like Gator/Claria and Direct Revenue did. The netherworld ones dispense with that fantasy and just install.
Often the advertisers have no idea their ads are being served up through these shady networks. For example, in 2005 Gator was showing ads from the Yahoo network as part of the Overture keyword search. As an Overture advertiser you couldn't control whether ads appeared there.
This is not a new technique, there have been adware/spyware apps for nearly a decade that do similar things. The ones that do it openly as a "legitimate business" claim the user consented, like Gator/Claria and Direct Revenue did. The netherworld ones dispense with that fantasy and just install.
Often the advertisers have no idea their ads are being served up through these shady networks. For example, in 2005 Gator was showing ads from the Yahoo network as part of the Overture keyword search. As an Overture advertiser you couldn't control whether ads appeared there.