You probably all heard about the music industry campaign against online piracy.

In the NYT article Fighting the Idea That All the Internet Is Free (http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/09/technology/09FREE.html), Thomas R. Eisenmann, an assistant professor at Harvard Business School claims "It was never really free...The hope was that advertising would pay for everything. That's not necessarily a flawed model. It has just been a lot harder than most people thought".

What do you think? Will we soon move to a "Premium" Internet, where free content would become a rare commoditiy?

There has been "premium" content on the internet that you had to pay for ever since the internet was first opened to commercial use. There has also always been free content on the internet.

There will always be people who are willing to give away some content for free, and there will always be some things you have to pay for.

All this NYT article has accomplished is to sensationalize the issue, make it look like a "new thing" and suggest (falsely) that it's an all-or-nothing situation.

To which I say, pfft.

Also, lest we forget, the internet is still a luxury that most of the world cannot afford. The cost to participate (computer, ISP,...) is beyond most peoples reach, much less their daily struggle.

Perspective and gratitude.
POL9A

Born and raised in the U.S. I am a person of very modest means by American standards. and MOST of my relatives can't afford the access to the internet that I have.