Self | Technology | History
The Inventor of Pop-up Ads Has Deep Regrets
The other Zucker who ruined the internet.
Alfred Nobel invented the Nobel Prize as a public relations move.
A year earlier, French newspapers mistakenly thought Alfred had died (it was his brother who had passed).
Alfred stared in horror at obituaries that slammed him for inventing dynamite. He’d created it with good intentions, never thinking it would become a weapon of war.
And so perhaps Ethan Zuckerman has the same fear, all because of one well-intended creation, all part of his attempt to be a good employee.
Yet his chapter reads very differently.
The story begins in 1994
Ethan was a brilliant programmer, still in college, and working for Tripod.com.
It was a user-generated online magazine geared at recent college graduates. Its articles discussed saving money, fun things to do, and dating tips.
The web was new and a very, very different place back then. For example, this is Yahoo in 1994:
