Glenn Reynolds (a.k.a. “Instapundit”) reports that the New York Times may start requiring readers of its website to pay for that privilege. I’ve got not objection to that as a general matter; I’m no copyright commie. But I’m not sure I’d welcome the probable consequences.
Prof. Reynolds predicts, “the Times would lose a lot of influence if it made this move, since it would only be talking to the true believers.” Perhaps so. I’d have to see some figures about how much of the Times’ readership reaches it only via the web before I’d put money on that prediction.
I will risk this prediction, however: The Times would start wielding copyright law against pesky bloggers. In the past, the Times has published editorials and stories somewhat sympathetic to copyright reform. Consider, though, what would happen if it started charging for access to its website.
The Technology Liberation Front is the tech policy blog dedicated to keeping politicians' hands off the 'net and everything else related to technology.