Internet users pay a couple of dollars a month and in return see an ad-free web on participating sites...
Google’s Contributor
program replaces ad revenue with a monthly subscription fee:
participating websites show no adverts to users paying into the scheme
and in return these sites collect part of their contributions.
The
scheme has been launched as an experiment this week with half a dozen
partners currently signed up: Urban Dictionary, The Onion, Science
Daily, WikiHow, Mashable and Imgur.
Participation for internet
users is currently limited (though there is a waiting list) and Google
is offering sign-ups the choice to pay $1, $2 or $3 a month, adding:
“The more you contribute, the more you support the websites you visit.”
How Contributor works. Image credit: Google.
Google has said it's started with mostly small sites (Imgur is
the largest, with 100 million unique monthly visitors – though far less
engagement on its front page) to get a feel for how the service would
work on a larger scale.
So far 'Contributor' will only replace ads
provided by Google with a small thank you message, but the success of
the scheme could encourage more sites to trial subscription services
instead of advertising.
This would represent a sea change in how
the web funds itself, reducing the clout of advertising companies and
therefore minimizing the need for sites to collect personal information
about their users: a practice that can feed into surveillance by
governments and law enforcement.
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