If your firewall keeps putting up warnings about intrusion attempts, you should turn the alerts off. Many of these are probably from computers infected with the Blaster or a similar virus. In an ideal world none of this would happen, but I don't think it is an indication of the internet outliving any usefulness it has. I have a router between my computer and the internet, so it drops all the incoming scans.
There are people out there doing interesting things like mapping the internet by doing basic pings of all connected computers. This is completely harmless, but can show up as an intrusion attempt to some firewalls.
None of this will have anything to do with trying to target advertising. That is an entirely separate issue.
The main problem is that the internet and computers have evolved faster than most people and governments can adapt. Spammers etc. are taking full advantage of this. Once we can get governments to create better laws related to the internet and the population learn more about it, much of this should go away. There have been some attempts to outlaw spam, but they haven't proven very effective yet.
I won't hold my breath though, and will keep updating my anti-virus and firewall software while continuing to enjoy the many benefits of the internet.
goates