Hi,

Like most product changes you make, it's not opt-in, you make the change and 
publicize, it's a far more normal way for things to occur. I can't think of a 
product mod we've ever done at NR where we've asked for opt-in acceptance, nor 
as a customer of tech services have I ever been asked to opt-in to 
modification to a product.

As a direct comparison, did ISP's ask end users for opt-in when they blocked 
Port 25 to remote mail servers? No, but from a technical point of view I 
understand why they did it, and ultimately it's probably a good thing (as long 
as there is an opt-out), I didn't see Sys Admins making complaints at a change 
like this, even though there was a far more obvious and direct effect on end 
users. 

I don't see it as a 'good thing'. I'm actually pretty neutral to it. A 
journalist called me, asked questions for 2 minutes and I explained what I 
considered the pros and cons to be. I don't believe the sky will fall in 
because they are essentially monetizing failed searches, much like while I've 
never used a sponsored link on a monetized domain I've ended up on, I don't 
see the sky falling in because there is a business model around this (it's to 
me a minor occassional inconvenience).

If I was a customer of BigPond and was getting this right now, would I:

a) Bother opting out
b) Ever click on a sponsored link

No, to both. 

> Hi Brett,
> 
> Perhaps you can tell me why, if this is such a good thing, it isn't an
> opt-in system?
> 
> Pros:
> 
> you know precisely who wants this.
> 
> you get no bad publicity.
> 
> Cons:
> 
> You actually have to 'sell' the service to people. Rather than just
> assuming they want it.
> 
> Cheers,
> Anand