If you want a measure of how far we’ve moved from the days of simple HTML, then just install the NoScript add-on for Firefox. It detects every script that a site is running within the page and asks you to make a decision about whether to allow it or not. It’s an eye-opener. The image shows what happened when I opened a normal page from the Wall Street Journal.

The sad fact is that there’s so much AJAX-like stuff out there that running NoScript is a bit of a pain. The old adage about the price of liberty being eternal vigilance needs updating. The price of online security is endless hassle.