Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/

[B <beeline AT mindspring.com>]

I know that dot-coms are trying to figure out how to make money with
their Web sites, but charging for _links_ to content!?!? What happens to
our ability to say "lookit what I found here, Clyde"?

http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,40850,00.html

This is another leg in the all-information-as-commodity ramp. The News
and Observer soon will begin charging for the privilege of viewing its
online archive, as a number of other news organizations are doing. (No
charge if you subscribe.) Used to be that the newspapers made their
money through advertising -- roughly 60-65% of a regular paper is ads --
and saw the news-ed parts of their product as the method by which the
advertising was distributed. I certainly haven't noticed fewer ads
online....

I am troubled by this movement toward paying for information online
since it places information in the same cart as exotic fruit.... In a
"free" and "democratic" society, we *must* be informed before we can
make informed decisions. At the least, in the current Real World(tm)
scenario, public libraries provide copies of newspapers that anyone can
walk in and read, free of charge. What happens when/if libraries fade
away and there's no place for folks to find information that they want
or need? Will online libraries be allowed to provide free news archives
that anyone can access? (Somehow I doubt it....)

It seems that, for news organizations, this is yet another step away
from serving the public and toward serving the bottom line. (Does some
rich guy in California _really_ _care_ about what happens in the
Research Triangle, NC? Don't think so, as long as his profits increase.)
Here, I could go off on my favorite rant about how the
mega-corporatization of news organizations is threatening our
liberty....

-- 
            "B"ing mobile
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    I always have more questions
Thank you in advance for your answers
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 http://beeline.home.mindspring.com