In response to my blog entry about BugMeNot.com, yesterday Ron Diorio added a comment here about his concern for copyright and sites like BugMeNot.com. I think his comments are valuable enough to warrant reprinting them with their own heading. He wrote:
I think that BugMeNot endorses a kind of theft of service which as copyright holders we should not endorse.
If a publisher is willing to give you access to content for free as long as YOU are registered that is a commercial transaction.
If a publisher has paid content and a user undermines the
distribution of that by passing along the username and password through
BugMeNot you may be in violation of the terms of use for their website.
I think that anyone who has vested interst in intellectual property
should see things like BugMeNot as a threat to their basic right to
decide how their content is distributed.
Of course, we all have a vested interest in intellectual property and should take Ron’s advice to heart! Shame on me for not considering the publishers’ copyrighted material.
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I’m pretty sure that bugmenot only works for free places. I know I’ve tried to read articles you’re supposed to pay for using passwords from there and none of them has ever worked. Its real premise is just to protect some privacy and not have to give your info to every site online.
I’m sure you’re correct, Mox. However, I think the point is that the publication is providing the information for free to those people who enter into a special contract with them (the registration process). Not registering is, basically, skirting their requirements for access to the copyrighted material.
Found this: http://techlawadvisor.com/2005/02/copyright-v-contract-memo.html