One Response to "New essay: Money flows to the author is now up" Well, consider me blind for not seeing this post the first visit around... thanks! I think you're doing a generally good job of presenting the dynamics involved here. Now, I wish to point out something which struck especially close to what I often discuss with friends and family. My apologies if my ramblings are a bit hard to read in this narrow comment window. You write: "The usual morality would suggest that creators should be paid for their creations, but instead it's been replaced by a morality which insists that everything on the internet should be free, and if you charge for content, you're the one doing something wrong." I posit that this is simply not the majority case. What I feel myself and experience both amongst "casual" and enthusiast music and literature consumers everywhere is something a lot more complex with many different aspects intertwining. People don't seem to be particularly opposed to paying for content or to consider charging for digital content wrong, even in the "hard core" piracy communities (as a matter of fact, it seems like the more someone would consider themselves a "pirate", the more that person is likely to have strong moral philosophies about the matter, see the political PirateParty-parties of Europe). I see a bunch of issues coming together here which end up forming a general aversion to paying for each and every piece of digital media "we" consume. All