Linksys has adopted a horrible approach to further monetizing the digital ecosystem; some of their routers now hijack 404 pages to deliver advertising! This leads me to ask: when customers are sold automatic advertising + networking gear should they really be required to pay for the router? It seems like most users (i.e. those who won’t go any further than running the default system to set up their wireless networks) are going to be in a situation where they pay cash for a device AND subsequently have to put up with obnoxious advertisements.

While a freemium model for the sale of hardware (i.e. get the router for free + advertising, and evade advertising with either a one-off or monthly payment plan) is interesting, setting defaults so that people are both paying for a piece of hard and increasing third-parties’ revenue streams by being forced to view ads is just wrong.