he monetized the web. now he has a plan to fix it

he monetized the web. now he has a plan to fix it

From kill switch by Kaleidoscope

March 25, 2026 · 38 min

About this episode

Ethan Zuckerman discusses his efforts to reform the Internet and advertising practices.

Ethan Zuckerman helped design the amateur web as we know it. In the 90s, he worked at Tripod, providing free web space for anyone to build their own site. His invention, pop-up ads, helped make that possible. The industry ran with it, and the Internet was never the same. Since then, Ethan’s been on a mission to fix the Internet and bring it back to what he hoped it would be – he even sued Facebook over it. Dexter talks to Ethan about how to make advertising less surveillant, a “free-trade coffee” model of the web, and why ad blockers might hint at a way to make Facebook a better place. Hit us up: killswitch@kaleidoscope.nyc , or @killswitchpod and @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky. Links:  Ethan Zuckerman and Chand Rajendra-Nicolucci’s proposal on Forgetful Adveritising: https://law.yale.edu/sites/default/files/area/center/isp/documents/zuckerman.pdf Ethan’s op-ed in the New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/05/opinion/facebook-court-internet-meta.html Ethan and Isaac Brickman’s proposal for middleware: https://journals.sagepub.com/eprint/JMYZ3GJKPE7UTCN8ZR3K/full kill switch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@killswitch_pod See…

People in this episode

Host: Dexter

Guest: Ethan Zuckerman

Topics covered

  • Internet
  • advertising
  • technology
  • surveillance
  • media
  • ethics

Keywords

  • Ethan Zuckerman
  • advertising
  • Facebook
  • Internet reform
  • pop-up ads
  • surveillance
  • ad blockers

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Facebook, Tripod, New York Times

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