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It’s a somewhat bitter irony that just as many organizations are finally committing to developing a community of horizons scanners, the paywalls are going back up. More and more frequently, one finds a teaser that looks pretty interesting and start to read it then either you’re asked to subscribe, or sign in and wait for a confirmation code, or you’ve exceeded your quota of free articles. If you’re watching your subscriptions, or if you’re in a hurry like most of us are, chances are you don’t bother.
Looming ahead is how content providers decide to respond to the AI scrapers pulling all their content and repurposing it for their benefit. In the pre-scrape context, there is an incentive for one to post content for free in terms of thought leadership, brand-building, and community development in that your contribution is recognized. In the scraping world, it’s taken, put into a blender and regurgitated with no credit. Makes one think twice on what to post.
In terms of After Capitalism it’s disappointing that the long progress towards a more open free exchange of information seems to have hit an impasse. For years, I could see scenarios where IP was becoming less important, which boded well for After Capitalism. But about 3-4 years ago, I started seeing ones featuring the “return” of IP. Alas, the return is gaining strength. [See also, all the streaming services carving up content, and in many cases bringing ads along with the cost of subscription.]
It is worth mentioning that there are very positive AI “scrape” scenarios in which there is a huge collective benefit to society and it could be a key aspect of the After Capitalism future. But in the current capitalist context, it is for the benefit of the few at the top. It’s getting interesting … stay tuned. — Andy Hines
Andy, I have noticed the same thing you have over the last 5 years–Paywalls on content are Intensifying and less is free to the public OR the student. Since so much current informatiom is digital only now, there is no print media to fall back on unless its “bootlegged”. I believe that people crouching too much behind the paywall are really doing themselves a diservice in that they are limiting thier own ideas from getting out there in the world. We will see if this trend continues.