Chapter 60: From Stateless HTTP to Privacy Sandbox APIs — Advertising’s Long Arc in Web API History (1990–1994)
In the Web’s first years (1990–1994), HTTP’s stateless simplicity left no room for ad tech as we know it. This chapter traces how early HTTP interfaces and the arrival of cookies set up decades of web advertising—and why today’s Privacy Sandbox APIs are a return to constrained, standardized interfaces.