Never thought of ET as porn, at least not the carnal kind.
The effect of Google running things has several impacts on advertisers, non advertisers, and the public.
Advertisers benefit through likely increased traffic. Advertisers are hurt when a regular site visitor is unable to open that website without first going through Google under a pay for click pricing scheme.
Non advertisers, such as small businesses, may be disproportionately adversely affected by the current scheme. One’s philosophy on this subject probably comes down on how one sees internet access and how they feel about the original purpose for creating the world wide web. It seems to me the status quo that was established at the inception of the internet is being changed for monetary and information control. Should Google be looked at as a utility or service provider? Google was granted certain privileges related to the internet for free or nearly for free, mainly because regulators did not know how valuable they were. This causes me to feel there is at least a social contract between Google and the public. To be fair, Google has provided good value add services. However, these services have been paid for through data mining and loss of privacy.
I don’t see how the public benefits by having content that is restricted in any way. Some of the best websites in the Universe, measured by useful content, do not come up on many non-specific Google searches. Instead, nowadays consumers are bombarded with the big advertisers and SEO (Search Engine Optimized) crap that often times are just a jumble of key words and a popup, not real content.
TV is dying for a reason. Too many commercials and declining or reused content. Although I am hesitant to ask the question: “Is the internet next”, the “internet experience” appears to have reached its peak and is on a downward path.
Books, anyone?