Do web caching servers deprive some commercial portal web sites of hits and revenues?
This is an interesting question that arises occasionally and unfortunately is often subject to misinformation. We have seen claims alleging that caching is unfair and that it deprives some content providers of hit counts and revenue. It has to be recognized that caching is already in use throughout the internet and on multiple levels. It is here to stay and its use will increase. Whilst one should not try to justify doing something based on the argument that ‘other are already doing it’, the fact that something is widely done and available must be taken into consideration. Caching at various levels of the Internet improves the efficiency of the Internet generally and as a result improves the browsing experience for millions of users, providing them with faster access to data from host sites. The improved browsing experience results in increased page views which in turn will benefit content providers. If a specific page from a content provider were cached on a LAN and subsequently serve
