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.
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
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.
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 don't think FrontPage has a paywall button.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
I have a bus that has no fees and the doors are open.
Passengers can get on and off the bus at various points around the city. There is a sign somewhere that probably says you should pay X dollars, but there is no enforcement of the payment policy. Passengers are free to go as they please without any constraint. Now, this bus is not the only service in town and there are quite literally thousands of different mass transit providers in the city. In fact, the streets get jammed up quite a bit because they are much like tubes. (Tubes have a limited number of units which may pass through them.)
Now, this might make sense to pay if all buses were paid ventures, but in this city of mass mass transit the common expectation is there are no fees. The fact is most of the these transit providers want you to get on their bus so they can beam advertising into your eyeballs. Some say those who use special sun glasses to block those specific rays of light are cheating the system, but that is really a question of ethics and not legality.
The fact is that some of us use special sunglasses to keep the harmful rays out of our eyes. The world is not a safe place with kids using laser pointers like madmen. The law enforcement agencies ignore these kids with their obviously dangerous light emitting devices and as such it's a virtual apocalyptic society.
As I was saying, the shades are important and they look cool.
"You should always go to other people's funerals; otherwise, they won't come to yours." -- Yogi Berra
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.
Dude ... best dismount from a car analogy ever.
Brilliant!
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
You missed the part where the bus driver lets repeated free riders in, but does a drive-by at their house with his homies at midnight.
NB: The message above might reflect my opinion right now, but not necessarily tomorrow or next year.