Re: I don't want to be told I'm being tracked. I want the option to tell them "No"
> ...On the other hand, it is by and large what pays for the internet.
That would not be entirely correct. While it is true that *a handful* of companies have become incredibly rich thanks to selling ads on the internet, it does not follow that stomping all over individual privacy would have been necessary for them (or anyone else) to succeed.
Out of that handful of companies amassing so much money, some good things have come out in technological and societal terms. Things like street view and Google Translate are quite cool and provide a convenience and level of service that would not have existed otherwise (the only other actor with the power to implement solutions at that scale, governments, would have baulked at both ideas). However, there is a good chance that both could have been implemented more openly and transparently and without having privacy as an afterthought.
And there we are only talking about perhaps two dozen companies in the whole world: the likes of Google, Amazon, etc. For the other millions of operators being on the web is more of a necessity/convenience in order to reach their audience.
That a percentage of those "long-tail" sites get financed through the sale of advertisement, a) does not change the fact that selling advertisement does not have to be done in ways incompatible with individual privacy, and b) a number of those sites exist for the sole purpose of selling advertising and, to be honest, I do not think they would be missed much if they were to disappear.