Regarding Facebook tracking non-users Mark Zuckerberg said "This kind of data collection is fundamental to how the internet works."

I'm not a networking expert but I know enough to be able to confidently say that nothing at all about this data collection is fundamental to how the Internet works. I guess he was using Silicon Valley speak where "the internet" means "huge corporations who make most of their money by selling ads and illegally collecting as much data as possible".

@eribloodlust i am a networking expert, and i can assure you that advertising is not fundamental in any way shape or form.

The fundamental pieces are some physical cables, and protocols (IP, BGP, DNS). Advertising /may/ pay for some things, but hasn't paid a dime for the cables, IP, or BGP.

@phessler @eribloodlust

let me put my "devils advocate" hat for a moment and say many submarine cables have been paid for by advertising dollars. a similar argument can be made for the current pricing & ubiquity of 100G switching gear -- "hyperscale" datacenters are because of FB & Google. which are ad companies.