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Advertising Hits Arizona County Government Website

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the citizens-for-sale dept.

Combuchan writes "Just when you thought that pages on your local government's website were the last bastion of the advertisement-free WWW, that may soon change. Maricopa County (seen on slashdot before), home to 3.4 million people in the Phoenix metropolitan area, has seen their GIS website "become an every day tool for realtors, developers, mortgage and title companies, appraisers, inspectors, attorneys and many other professionals associated with the real estate industry." As a result, they are now accepting bids for Web advertisements. As the county is one of the best-run in the nation, this could set quite the precedent."

12 of 239 comments (clear)

  1. It's either ads or taxes. by Anonymous+Crowhead · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Someone's got to pay. I don't see the big deal.

  2. what is the point by phantasma6 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    How much revenue would advertising bring to the site? Would it be worth the degraded image that advertising will bring? Do they really need that extra money?

    1. Re:what is the point by Combuchan · · Score: 3, Insightful

      As the site has a very clean and professional look, as oppose to very corporate sites...

      The last three pages of the linked PDF discussing where ads might end up may very well change your opinion. I thought this was merely the addition of three text ads on the actual GIS application, but they're really going all out.

      I don't blame the county for doing this, all in all. From an urban-planning geek's perspective, it's one of the coolest local sites I know of. But serving 300,000 a month with what I assume to be an intensive GIS application can't be cheap.

      The notion of having a user "pay" for government services rendered is of course nothing new (have you seen what some cities charge for copying fees?), and this really is an extension of that concept to the Internet.

      But where does it stop? Where, for example, is the line drawn between a local government's Tourism Bureau and an all-out travel information website with hotel reservations, tickets to local shows, maps, guides, and whathaveyou? If you run a site like that, do you want to be competing against your Government?

      --
      "[T]he single essential element on which all discoveries will be dependent is human freedom." -- Barry Goldwater
  3. This won't help lower taxes. by DAldredge · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This won't help lower taxes, it will raise them. You see someone (political connected) will 'have' to be hired to managed the ad program. And since the persons salery will come out of a different budget pool they will still make it look like the ad program is bringing in more than it is.

    Ain't goverment budgeting wonderful? It makes Enron's accounting look legal by comparison.

  4. Thank God for Adblock by Edgebound · · Score: 5, Insightful

    As long as my Adblock still works they can advertise all they want.

  5. Right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful
    This is a country by the corporations, for the corporations, and now paid for by the corporations! What a great country we live in.

    I'd much rather keep my money for myself to spend on the products the corporations make than contributing to the country I live in. What a horrible concept!

    Unfortunately, now I won't have anyone to complain to when things start going wrong, because I'm not paying them.

  6. Ha ha hee hee ho that's a good one. by Jeffrey+Baker · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Maricopa County is only "well-run" if you think it's a good idea to build a city of millions in the middle of the desert, hundreds of miles from the nearest renewable source of water and sustainable agriculture. If you consider those minor matters of survival, it's a fucking disaster.

    Let Maricopa County have advertisers on their real estate website. That will distract people from the fact that they're buying land in the desert

  7. In typical Slashdot tradition... by cleverhandle · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ...it seems that few people are actually following any links before posting corporate conspiracy theories.

    Now, I will admit that there's something slightly unsettling about a government giving official coverage to particular businesses. Though, as pointed out above, it may be better than taxes.

    But in any event, these ads are specifically for their GIS (Geographic Information Systems) portal. That's relatively specialized stuff - people visiting it (property owners and developers) have a pretty high probability of needing some kind of service the businesses advertise there. If they don't see the ad there, they'll go to the Yellow Pages - so who do you want the money to go to, the local gov or the telecoms?

    While this still strikes me as a little odd, it's not like Aunt Tilly is going to be checking a web site for the garbage pickup schedule and be confronted with flashing ambulance chaser ads or something.

    1. Re:In typical Slashdot tradition... by geek · · Score: 3, Insightful

      "Now, I will admit that there's something slightly unsettling about a government giving official coverage to particular businesses"

      Ever seen a bulletin board at a public library? Been to a city hall anywhere? They have tons of info on local business. Part of local governments job these days is promoting the local business community for sake of tourism and economic growth. It's nothing new or strange.

  8. So what? by lunartik · · Score: 3, Insightful

    They put ads on city buses too.

  9. Not so: It's either ads or taxes. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Ads are good for covering costs, however they are also completely inappropriate for any service rendered by state authority. I'm not into US or Arizona or this particular county legislature, but if somebody would be able to promote itself on government owned web site, while somebody else couldn't, the whole thing could be seen as a governement endorsment of certain business. This in my eyes would be alost like Bush renting the White House lawn for McDonalds arches. He might be a monkey, but certain things event this monkey can't afford to do.

    If the county wants to render public service, they can cover the costs with taxes or with fees. I don't expect it to be free beer, but I'm certainly disgusted by something that could be seen as a government endorsement of a particular business. If they want to put ads on it, they should spin off a privately owned company and be done with it.

    How could I know the burgers were a health hazard? I've seen their advertisement on the gov. site, so I thought you checked them out... With all the lawsuits galore, this is just behind the corner.

    Maybe it's just me, but government and advertising really don't mix together.

    Anonymous Cowards Unite

  10. Re:You don't know Phoenix... by Jeffrey+Baker · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The Hohokam had a peak population of less than 50,000 people, and their society collapsed. Some people think the Hohokam society collapsed because their irrigation technology overextended the population, which was then wiped out by drought and poor soil management. I see a parallel with Maricopa County. Yes, technology allows 4 million people to live in the desert. But in adverse conditions, the Maricopa County society is just as apt to evaporate as the Hohokam did 600 years ago.