I want my content free. I want to download music, watch videos, read the news and generally do anything I want online without paying anybody. I’m uncompromising here. Did that Web site want my credit-card number? Forget about it.

When I surf, I’m on-demand and ADD, and I refuse to pay unless I’m shopping for something tangible. I’m basically the average Internet user.

This can’t be a free lunch, though, and it comes down to this: Do we start paying the Web sites we visit? Or, do we accept the significant loss of privacy that comes with highly targeted advertising?

I’m a fan of privacy. But in this case, I’d rather my online viewing habits, browsing history and posted content on online profiles be raided for its marketing potential. It beats paying a cent to sustain my Internet habits, which would eventually cost any of us a fortune.

The market decided this long before I did. CNN, Slate, The New York Times and other online operations have tried pay-as-you-go models, and found that making the content free was more profitable. And while Internet advertising is real-time, adaptable and accountable, it still isn’t paying enough: Web sites need a lot of knowledge about their visitors to make decent ad money.

No, MySpace, I won’t click on that advertisement for Rage Against the Machine or Wu-Tang Clan — but thanks for thinking of me, and my music-interests section.

MySpace is growing more and more obsolete, but it should be making as much money as possible while it’s still around, some of which should go to better service (like ripping off more Facebook features). Quid pro quo?

At least I can enjoy just a little better of a product, and, at this rate, I might actually click one of those links.

I do expect targeted advertising to be smartly regulated at the federal level. My browsing history and other information should be discretely used for more efficient marketing; it doesn’t necessarily have to be a serious breach into my personal life.

For instance, I might not want it associated with my name that I Googled Rihanna to find out more about the domestic-abuse incident with Chris Brown — that’s kind of embarrassing. But if a search engine logs that my IP address has been searching for college internships, using that information to advertise to me a related job opportunity is just plain efficiency.

In the future, the people behind the videos on video-sharing sites like YouTube or Hulu that become pop-culture phenomena will be getting paid because of highly targeted advertising.

There will be kinks along the road, perhaps some major lawsuits about this.

Our legal system is a bit behind the times when it comes to highly targeted online marketing (like virtually any emerging technology), and I’d like to see more clearly defined legal rights on this issue.

But very few of us are ever going to pay money to read articles or watch videos on the Internet. More efficient, demographic and interest-specific online marketing is the only answer to sustaining any free access Internet operation.

I’ll be annoyed the next time I see an Internet ad for something like “High School Musical” on a site I visit frequently. Come on, I’m a college male in the 18- to 24-year-old demographic. They should know better.

Reach Matt at matt.culbertson@asu.edu.