[Lex Computer & Tech Group/LCTG] Looking for sites blocked by paywalls or remove-ad-blockers

[Robert Primak]

 Note the very acrimonious battles between Free Public Libraries and eBook publishers about reader access through that channel. Now multiply this by all the newspapers and journals which are trying to monetize web content, and you may see what I mean by "data silos" and their impact on the free flow of useful information and news.https://www.wgbh.org/news/local/2020-01-06/inside-the-e-book-war-waging-between-libraries-and-publishers 
Recent LCTG presentations on AI and chip manufacturing have touched upon this issue of data sitting in proprietary silos while companies and academic groups insist on being paid for each viewing of their data, or companies denying all public access to their "intellectual property" for no other reason than profit motives.
Yes, it is important to protect profitable "trade secrets". No, it is not in the interests of scientific and journalistic freedoms to insist that every image, every word, every chart or table is a "trade secret". Even You Tube's present revenue generating and distribution practices are very controversial, giving You Tube and the parent company huge amounts of revenue at the expense of content creators. Content creators in response have littered their videos with in-line ads, which are arguably worse than the popup and pop-over ads and paywalls we are complaining about in "print media" pages on the Web. 
Related, but a bit off-topic: Don't get me started about "patents" which basically cover every way information could possibly be presented on the Web. (See a recent court decision about the biggest "patent troll" in the business, whose "patents" were incredibly vague and sweeping, and who were extorting payments from small businesses which were trying to set up web sites.)( https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/10/landmark-technologys-two-decade-patent-assault-e-commerce-finally-over ) 
-- Bob Primak 


    On Monday, November 13, 2023 at 05:28:55 PM EST, Dick Miller via LCTG <lctg at lists.toku.us> wrote:  
 
   Hi, All:
 
 What an interesting conversation! And how interesting, that no one has mentioned public libraries!
 
 Would you argue for the closing of all public libraries? Or, merely that they stop offering free public access to books, movies, music and newspapers that also are for sale?
 
 If those actions sound wrong (as they do to me), why not establish at least one independent public library on the public Internet? And/or, have the NYC Main Public Library, MIT, et al, put their goodies online?
 
 Note: Our town's public library already offers e-books online - to as many concurrent borrowers as it has paid-for copies.
   
 Wondering,
 --Dick Miller, Partner, MMS <TheMillers at millermicro.com> ===============================================
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