Hacker News Reader

Comment by sergiotapia | Hacker News Reader

Don't be glib, it's a legitimate question. If this entire business only exists because they sell content written by their journalists, how is this website not just stealing access?

I own the paper, I paid a journo to research and infiltrate a group of people, he wrote a great article, I want to charge $1 to anyone who cares, now this website comes along and says nah here's the content for free hosted on my site.

How does that work?

View on HN

Believe me, I know. I used to make my living selling a book. Guess how long that lasted.

So the answer to your question is one of these, depending on your personal viewpoint.

1. Obviously it's blatant theft.

2. "Information should be free."

(My glibness stems from the fact that this has surely been litigated to death by now.)

> Information should be free.

Healthcare should be free.

Food and shelter should be free.

“Should” is doing a lot of work there. Meanwhile in reality, creating and organizing information requires scarce labor which deserves compensation.

Information is free. It costs approximately nothing to duplicate it and its value is approximately nothing. You may think the publication "should" be paid every time someone reads their slop, but in reality that's not how it works. The bulk of the value these publications provide is in pumping out ads or propaganda. Advertisers will pay more to advertise to people who pay money to whoever asks, so the newspapers ask you to pay.

Healthcare is not free to provide, but it is cheaper and more effective with the free flow of information. Same for agriculture and the production of housing.

Generating information isn't free. I do it for a living. Let me tell you, if I got paid nothing I'd stop real fast and go dig a hole.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com