Sometime last year I read an article which passionately put forward the case that all information and data should be free to anybody who wants it. (By “free” I mean that there is no material cost to access it, it can be easily accessed via a web-site and can be edited and then republished if required).
This sounded an interesting so I did a little digging.
The case for free information
Firstly freely sharing information allows a wider range of people to review it, improve it and then re-publish as necessary. (This is similar to how open source software operates).
Also having access to free information allows people to learn more. Personally I have used a massive amount of free information gained from Googling, Wikipedia, LinkedIn blogs and literally hundreds of other websites.
Finally openness builds trust. The logic is that the more one shares then the more trust is built; and the more trust is built then the more information is shared.
The case against free information.
Clearly some data and information is confidential. For example medical records, family history and national security items. If this information was freely accessible then it would make some people very uncomfortable.
Also if all information is distributed freely then who would pay the salaries, costs, etc of the researches, authors, editors, etc who currently produce the data? To ensure they can continue then they may have to be supported by advertisements and/or by ‘donations’ from organisations or governments. This could impact the impartiality of any information produced.
Furthermore if a person spends a large amount of time researching, analysing and summarising data then why should they not get paid for their efforts? Especially if there are people who are willing to pay for the information.
Likewise if an organisation spends years, money, stress, etc developing a trade secret (like a new product or a new process) then why should they publish freely this so other organisations can copy it and gain this advantage without any of the effort and pain?
Finally what happens if your hard work is copied by somebody else and then they sell it for a fee?
Conclusion
I suppose in an ideal world, it would be nice if all information was freely available. However the commercial and confidential realities of life will mean that some data is either (a) completely restricted like trade secrets and / or (b) only published with a cost because the people want or need paying.
This is further re-enforced because there are people actually willing to pay for it.
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