Pay Or Else, News Site Threatens 549
WED Fan writes "The North Country Gazette, a news blog, says users who read beyond a single page of an article must pay up or they will be tracked down. They don't have a pay wall. If you go beyond page 1, you owe them. From the article: 'A subscription is required at North Country Gazette. We allow only one free read per visitor. We are currently gathering IPs and computer info on persistent intruders who refuse to buy subscription and are engaging in a theft of services. We have engaged an attorney who will be doing a bulk subpoena demand on each ISP involved, particularly Verizon Droids, Frontier and Road Runner, and will then pursue individual legal actions.'"
Re:Clueless (Score:4, Informative)
The newpaper's site (http://www.northcountrygazette.org/) is now throwing up a 403 error. Fastest slashdotting ever?
I know the webmaster from there... (Score:2, Informative)
Well, knew him virtually up till about two years ago on a MUSH.
Real asshat, I banned him a few times, he'd slink back and apologize and then be weird again.
This woman is detached from reality. (Score:5, Informative)
She got in a fight with a retired attorney here [harvard.edu], where he calls out her sockpuppetting and claims that "fair use doesn't apply," like just saying it would make it so.
Anyway - she's clearing using an autoblogging plugin like wp-robot (won't link, they are scum) to rip articles from other sites via RSS while stripping attribution in her attempt to extort money from people more ill-informed than her - if they exist. Basically, she is guilty of exactly what she's accusing others of doing.
I love cranks. They really keep the world interesting.
Full disclosure: I sysadmin blogs.law.harvard.edu.
Re:Declining Subscriptions (Score:5, Informative)
They learned it from the RIAA.
Re:Clueless (Score:5, Informative)
I'm sure this will all end well.
Or bankruptcy.
Probably theirs.
Oh and yes I believe you are correct - a contract is not binding if it has no been signed, or dollars changed hands (like when you buy Windows Seven NT 6.1).
Re:Clueless (Score:5, Informative)
Actually, it looks like this is just a crazy old lady with a blog. Here's what Encyclopedia Dramatica [encycloped...matica.com] says:
The real shocker here is that Encylcopedia Dramatica actually has useful content.
Re:Clueless (Score:3, Informative)
It's working at the moment, but every headline is follwed by:
The really wonderful thing is that each 'post-protected' message also has buttons to share the link via email/facebook/digg, etc. Fantastic.
Re:Clueless (Score:3, Informative)
I'd say it's more like going into a public bathroom and getting a bill when you leave.
Without a paywall, without something to record that you read and understand their conditions(that you have to pay), they can't charge for serving a webpage.
Re:Aw (Score:5, Informative)
This link still works:
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/center.html [northcountrygazette.org]
Re:Is this a joke? (Score:1, Informative)
Sadly... no.
http://encyclopediadramatica.com/June_Maxam [encycloped...matica.com]
Re: mod parent up (Score:3, Informative)
$ while true; do wget --mirror --delete-after http://www.northcountrygazette.org/ [northcountrygazette.org]; done
You can pretty much do this in a jailbroken iPhone with wget installed, sipping coffee leisurely in a Starbucks.
Re:So how big a bill will Google's spiders pick up (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Clueless (Score:2, Informative)
It was "slashdotted" two days ago when boingboing reported the story. I don't know if it's been a continuous outage, or if it came back up post-boingboing and is now out again.
Re:Clueless (Score:1, Informative)
No, you are mistaken. Contracts do not have to be signed to be binding (though it helps) with the exception of Real Estate (here in the US). They may not be enforceable, and they will be construed as harshly against the party that wrote the contract as the terms can allow, since they had the power to easily include any specifics they wanted. Whether this sort of contract is actually enforceable as written the courts will have to decide. IANAL, so YMMV.
Re:Clueless (Score:5, Informative)
So, if you don't agree to the contract, you can keep browsing as it is online for everyone to access, or does it mean that you aren't allowed to keep viewing the site unless you agree to abide by the terms they place on the website (purely from a law point of view)?
Unfortunately I get only 403 errors. I'd love for them to get my ip address and come after me. Norwegian courts wouldn't be amused with people suing a user for accessing freely available web pages, a court-ordered fine might very well be in order.
I believe that "North Country Gazette" has been misguided in this case by some consultant who is not worth his salt, but I'll say this anyway: If you publish your material freely accessible on a website listening on www:80, don't expect to successfully prosecute anyone accessing it.
As for the "contract": If I made a web page saying "Anyone who views this web page legally owes me 100 USD" I think it would be difficult to enforce it in a court of law.
Re:Clueless (Score:3, Informative)
Oh, I can get to it, but...
Checking http://www.northcountrygazette.org/sitemap.html [northcountrygazette.org] "Today's Articles" appear to be from April 2007.
So, where's the, you know, news?
Re:Aw (Score:4, Informative)
The pages are now "password protected"
Entering a password got me an "Error establishing a database connection" error.
Re:No different from the GPL. (Score:2, Informative)
You people seem to think the GPL is fine as a binding contract
The GPL is not a contract. It is a licence that allows a person to use redistribute somebody else's copyrighted work under certain conditions.
Contracts in writing, formalism, statute of frauds (Score:3, Informative)
> Contracts do not have to be signed to be binding (though it helps) with the exception of Real Estate (here in the US).
Purchase of real estate is a typical example, but there are other things, too. To be sure, always consult a lawyer in your state--and always do that when lots of money is at stake, just in case.
Historically, the "statute of frauds" in England listed a bunch of things that had to be in writing if they were to be binding, as opposed to a contract for the sale of a watch, for example, which can be made by swapping the watch for some cash. (Although laws in most states create default rules about what happens if the watch is defective, for example, and you try to return it.) Hundreds of years ago, you couldn't sell land without a signature, or make a contract that by its terms would last for more than one year, or make a wedding contract (IIRC) without a signature, and there are other things on the list.
The idea is "formalism," requiring written contracts and specific procedures. Formal laws are useful beforehand because they tell you what you're getting into and make it clear what you have to do to get it done, but they're bad afterwards because you often can't point out to the court afterwords that you were trying to do something else and you messed it up, or that it might not make sense to do what the documents say. Formalism is appropriate for the things in the statute of frauds because they're important contracts that you don't want someone to be able to lie about, so you want the evidentiary function of a clear-cut document saying what you've agreed to.
A classic example of the downsides to formalism is accidentally building a foundation an inch into your neighbor's yard: formalism says you have to tear down your new house, realism says you have to pay for the land at fair market value. Unless there's evidence you did it deliberately, in which case the court will hit you over the head with a baseball bat. (As always, consult a lawyer for the rules in your particular state.)
Re:No different from the GPL. (Score:5, Informative)
The difference with the GPL is you can download and use it to your heart's content. The GPL GRANTS you rights to redistribute the stuff, rights you otherwise wouldn't have under normal copyright law.
The GPL is a PERMISSIVE license. This thing is a RESTRICTIVE license, and it's applied retroactively. Neither of which happens with the GPL.
Next time you go to court, represent yourself. The Internet needs a laugh.
Re:Car analogy? (Score:5, Informative)
Dude ... best dismount from a car analogy ever.
Brilliant!