Why YSK: Information should be free and open for all

Copy and paste the article URL into https://archive.is/ and view an archived version, thus bypassing the paywall

  • JesusTheCarpenter@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    2 years ago

    Yes, it’s a weird one. We got used to the fact that everything is pretty much free on the internet. Unfortunately, nothing is free, we either pay with out personal data, watching and interacting with ads or through subscriptions and paywals.

    There is just no incentive for people to provide good content on the internet unless they have other means of sustaining themselves or they charge for it.

    For instance, there is so much free stuff thanks to developers making their hard work open source. However, they are only able to do it because even if they are not getting payed for this, either they have a job that pays for other work they do or they have access to other means of financial support like family for instance. And I am not saying that much of open source (not all) is not essentially people giving away their hard work for free but I am saying that if the choice was to make some program for free and go hungry or charge for it and have a meal then we all know what it would look like.

    • SisyphusOnStrike@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      Almost makes it seem like a UBI would be a good way to support the people who do work that no one wants to actually pay for (usually because the people avoiding payment aren’t getting paid enough in the first place)