I do own the HTTP response. It's on my computer and in my control. Sites that require payment before responding could do something like return 402 Payment Required or simply refuse to send me anything. If they send me ads I'll delete them. I can rip out and trash the ads I find in magazines, there's no reason websites should work differently.
Honest question: are you, or have you ever been (or are you planning to be), someone with a direct financial stake in the ad industry? Employee, shareholder, board member, whatever.
The answer to that question will greatly influence what we think of your witticism in the previous comment :-)
I'm all over this thread, and the answer to your question is yes. I spent a number of years at an ad-driven FAANG (which narrows it down to three).
And I still think that firstly, this decision by Apple is gonna drive a lot of small niche products to the wall, and secondly, is a part of Apple's longer term plans to make a significant amount of money from advertising over the next five years.
