Slashdot Mirror
Pay Or Else, News Site Threatens
WED Fan writes "The North Country Gazette, a news blog, says users who read beyond a single page of an article must pay up or they will be tracked down. They don't have a pay wall. If you go beyond page 1, you owe them. From the article: 'A subscription is required at North Country Gazette. We allow only one free read per visitor. We are currently gathering IPs and computer info on persistent intruders who refuse to buy subscription and are engaging in a theft of services. We have engaged an attorney who will be doing a bulk subpoena demand on each ISP involved, particularly Verizon Droids, Frontier and Road Runner, and will then pursue individual legal actions.'"
Somehow I doubt they have the money to prosecute all the slashdotters who will soon be hitting their pages. Just the slashdot effect alone will likely bankrupt them.
Id10ts.
SB
It's old. The more humans I meet, the more I like my cats. At least they are honest.
Seems like a perfect solution to declining readership - sue them until they pay.
Seems like a lot of automated systems are racking up infractions
unless you have voluntarily agreed to the terms this is non binding. there is no mutual agreement to any payment and your actions of viewing a random page do not construe such a contract or agreement. furthermore the person agreeing to any contract terms on dhcp cannot be proven to be the same person who clicked in a week later. clueless asshats.
0 Comments when I hit reply, and the site is already down.
Why do I suspect that somewhere in "upstate New York" there's a DSL modem sitting on a static IP that just got reduced to a molten pile of slag?
I'm going to go to the local StarBucks and register in their name and address and read/download about 100,000 pages. I hope they send starbucks a nice fat bill... Never did like them.
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"First things first -- but not necessarily in that order"
-- The Doctor, "Doctor
Reading the news now, using Google's cached pages. I'm sure they can foot my bill for me.
All the new articles seem to be password protected. Furthermore, I do not see a "purchase access" link anywhere on the front page. With that kind of usability, I'm sure tens of people will subscribe to them!
How much does a page that reads "Error establishing a database connection" cost? I mean, I think local news is good, but if that's your only headline...
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
See music/record industry, early year 2000's.
Yeah, I didn't even get a chance to look at it.
I'll set my computers to refresh the page every couple of minutes until it comes back.....
Well, knew him virtually up till about two years ago on a MUSH.
Real asshat, I banned him a few times, he'd slink back and apologize and then be weird again.
"...We have engaged an attorney who will be doing a bulk subpoena demand on each ISP involved, particularly Verizon Droids, Frontier and Road Runner, and will then pursue individual legal actions.'"
Yes, because somehow this is so much cheaper than putting up a paywall...
IANAL, but I have a word for what they're doing...it's called extortion. Good luck finding any readers after pulling a stunt like this...
I don't mean the top one to buy a subscription, I mean the one lower down, where you can simply "donate". To a company that will then sue you for not donating enough.
There is not enough Epic for this Fail. They've used up the supply of Epic Fail right through to New Years.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
She got in a fight with a retired attorney here, where he calls out her sockpuppetting and claims that "fair use doesn't apply," like just saying it would make it so.
Anyway - she's clearing using an autoblogging plugin like wp-robot (won't link, they are scum) to rip articles from other sites via RSS while stripping attribution in her attempt to extort money from people more ill-informed than her - if they exist. Basically, she is guilty of exactly what she's accusing others of doing.
I love cranks. They really keep the world interesting.
Full disclosure: I sysadmin blogs.law.harvard.edu.
This link still works:
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/center.html
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
I was forced to post, so I could undo a mistaken moderation. Why does moderation happen instantly? Why can't you undo it, if your mouse slips, except via this method?
Or just use wget --mirror --delete-after?
Good answer, wasn't aware wget could do that. So it's just this...
$ while true; do wget --mirror --delete-after http://www.northcountrygazette.org/; done
You can pretty much do this in a jailbroken iPhone with wget installed, sipping coffee leisurely in a Starbucks.
Due to what I assume is a typo on that page, Googlebot is not excluded from reading any pages on the site...
The pages are now "password protected"
Entering a password got me an "Error establishing a database connection" error.
You people seem to think the GPL is fine as a binding contract
The GPL is not a contract. It is a licence that allows a person to use redistribute somebody else's copyrighted work under certain conditions.
> Contracts do not have to be signed to be binding (though it helps) with the exception of Real Estate (here in the US).
Purchase of real estate is a typical example, but there are other things, too. To be sure, always consult a lawyer in your state--and always do that when lots of money is at stake, just in case.
Historically, the "statute of frauds" in England listed a bunch of things that had to be in writing if they were to be binding, as opposed to a contract for the sale of a watch, for example, which can be made by swapping the watch for some cash. (Although laws in most states create default rules about what happens if the watch is defective, for example, and you try to return it.) Hundreds of years ago, you couldn't sell land without a signature, or make a contract that by its terms would last for more than one year, or make a wedding contract (IIRC) without a signature, and there are other things on the list.
The idea is "formalism," requiring written contracts and specific procedures. Formal laws are useful beforehand because they tell you what you're getting into and make it clear what you have to do to get it done, but they're bad afterwards because you often can't point out to the court afterwords that you were trying to do something else and you messed it up, or that it might not make sense to do what the documents say. Formalism is appropriate for the things in the statute of frauds because they're important contracts that you don't want someone to be able to lie about, so you want the evidentiary function of a clear-cut document saying what you've agreed to.
A classic example of the downsides to formalism is accidentally building a foundation an inch into your neighbor's yard: formalism says you have to tear down your new house, realism says you have to pay for the land at fair market value. Unless there's evidence you did it deliberately, in which case the court will hit you over the head with a baseball bat. (As always, consult a lawyer for the rules in your particular state.)
-- IANAL, this isn't legal advice, and definitely isn't legal advice for you. Also, Squee!
Seems to be working now. But I'm having a hard time with understanding the issue. Can someone please put it in a car analogy?
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
The North Country Gazette welcomes letters of up to 300 words. The editor reserves the right to reject letters or edit for clarity, brevity, good taste and accuracy, and to prevent libel. No poetry or letter writing campaigns will be accepted. Submissions are limited to one every 30 days. All letters must include the writer’s name, address and phone number. We will not publish street address, e-mail address or phone number.
Letters can be submitted at news@northcountrygazette.org. All letters become the property of The North Country Gazette.
So...a letter writing campaign consisting of an anonymous 301 word bad-taste poem sent every 29 days would not be well received? Interesting...
How many hits did they sucker you guys into giving them?
The difference with the GPL is you can download and use it to your heart's content. The GPL GRANTS you rights to redistribute the stuff, rights you otherwise wouldn't have under normal copyright law.
The GPL is a PERMISSIVE license. This thing is a RESTRICTIVE license, and it's applied retroactively. Neither of which happens with the GPL.
Next time you go to court, represent yourself. The Internet needs a laugh.
My blog. Good stuff (when I remember to update it). Read it.