The End of Free Internet Stuff?

Endangered Species...

Free stuff on the Internet has been a proud and venerable tradition. Is this noble custom under threat?

The rise of the Internet decimated the ranks of all manner of traditional businesses. Just as record companies were settling into the sweet spot of selling high-margin CDs, music sharing networks turned digital piracy into an art form, and the public loved it.

Next to falter were traditional newspapers, gutted by the rise of free news websites. Now, no information industry is safe from the depredations of Internet Robin Hoods, who would take from the strategically flat-footed and give to the cheapskate.

The web offered the means to share information digitally, but legacy business models did not allow for online distribution. So people simply stole stuff and shared it in the cloud. Before long, it was essential to give content away for free merely to have a web presence.

But because content always cost money to create and publish, it was never really cost-free. The question was, who would have the courage to charge for it?

Premium publications like The Economist and the Wall Street Journal have been doing just that. Now, News Corp Emperor Rupert Murdoch signals that his online newspapers will stop giving away the goods . Despite skepticism about whether he can get away with it, the venerable Financial Times swiftly echoes the refrain.

Whatever has value can command a price- even on the Internet. The web may finally be growing up.