Some advertisers offer certain consumers home computers free of charge  Advertisements play continuously on the computers' screens whenever they are in use  As consumers use the computers to browse the Internet, information about their browsing patterns is sent to the advertisers, enabling them to transmit to each consumer advertising that accurately reflects his or her individual interests
The advertisers can afford to offer the computers for free because of the increased sales that result from this precise targeting of individual consumers
The advertisers would not be able to offer the computers absolutely free of charge if advertisements that accurately reflected the interests of the computers' users did not play continuously across the computers' screens whenever they were in use.