Do Tiny URL Services Weaken Net Architecture?

Indus Khaitan writes "Thanks to twitter, SMS, and mobile web, a lot of people are using the url minimizers like tinyurl.com, urltea.com. However, now I see a lot of people using it on their regular webpages. This could be a big problem if billions of different links are unreachable at a given time. What if a service starts sending a pop-up ad along with the redirect. What if the masked target links to a page with an exploit instead of linking to the new photos of Jessica Alba. Are services like tinyurl, urltea etc. taking the WWW towards a single point of failure? Is it a huge step backward? Or I'm just crying wolf here?"

Comments

Re:A related and important question

[Pharmboy]

Asshole idiots like you aren't content with debating the merits of one's political opinions anymore. Instead you have to dream up bullshit of what you think your political opponents must actually be thinking, and worse, you then start to actually believe your own bullshit. Its pathetic, and it only undermines legitimate debate. America is worse off because of pussies like you. You should be ashamed of yourself.

Yea, he is just abusing his 1st amendment rights. Its worth giving up a few rights as long as we are secure, right? Thank god we have people like you to stand up loud and proud to set the record straight, Mr. Anonymous.