How could print advertising work with YURLs?
Since a YURL contains a cryptographic hash, a YURL is not human memorable. This attribute makes YURLs unsuitable for direct inclusion in print advertising. Online advertising can directly use a YURL with a standard hyperlink. Offline advertising can indirectly use a YURL. Instead of directly including a YURL in a print advertisement, an advertiser could use a system like AOL keywords. The print advertisement would specify the keyword and the keyword host, for example, “AOL keyword: CNN”. The advertisement viewer could visit the advertised site by asking the keyword host for the YURL corresponding to the keyword. In a browser, the GUI for this task might be typing the keyword into a toolbar for AOL keywords. A keyword system is not unlike the current PKI solution. Instead of .com, .net, .org, etc. the competitors could be AOL, MSN, Yahoo, Google, etc. In a keyword system the competitors are chosen by the marketplace, not by government fiat.
