Right - it's just an archaic tradition, like separating the Editorial and Advertising departments. What could possibly go wrong when you redirect people in search of government services to websites that are designed to monetize the traffic? I can't wait to see how many pages I have to click through to get to a ferry schedule - 'cause every time the page loads, well son, that there's another impression. A GoDaddy-themed world of for-profit government.
How can it possibly be legal to suborn the obvious intent regulating dot-gov websites by redirecting traffic?
It's sad, but we're the ones who drove them to it, so we haven't much standing to complain. If I see to it my neighbor starves I mustn't act surprised to find he misbehaves a bit.
Hammond said the pilot project, funded by $75,000 from the Legislature, will help determine a number of things, including whether it can make money [...]
I hope Washington Ferries can afford to pay someone to proof the ads before they're published on the Web. I understand not all entities can do that nowadays.
Only idiots complain about having to endure advertising. Smart people use ad blockers, and the remote controls with mute buttons for their TVs. I see no online ads at any time ever.
@ 9. This post is not a complaint about having to look at web ads--it's about the state having to pull a fast one to legally sell some public real estate (virtual, but still) to private interests. Maybe pulling that fast one is necessary for budget reasons, but still. It's not the kind of behavior I want from my state DOT.
How can it possibly be legal to suborn the obvious intent regulating dot-gov websites by redirecting traffic?
That's not a promising start, there.