I hate the ad model too, but you're stealing bandwidth and hosting. Delivering those pictures and text comes from somewhere, and ads are how they're hoping to pay for it. Justify it to yourself how you want, but it's true.
If running an ad blocker is stealing, then so is disabling JavaScript or using curl.
Should they download the ad and pretend to display it? Then the site still gets the impression and everybody wins.
The user uses less of her own bandwidth, but not the publisher's. Ads are served from third-party networks, not the publisher's servers.
The target of a link could still be redirected, this would not allow the ad agency to track visitors but would allow them to track the effectiveness of a campaign.
That's about as much as they should be getting anyway.
But it would kill most RTB schemes and it would get rid of the majority of the tracking, which would be a good thing.
And the world is likely to be a better place for it.
The companies who do advertise in more traditional forms of media tend to be larger and more brand focused. They don't rely on manipulating their customers in very short term, impulse situations. They rely on visibility and try to generate goodwill through elaborate PR campaigns.