The problem is the business model.<p>All of these behaviors 1) are hostile to high-quality accessble content and 2) are fundamentally driven by advertising (or its failure).<p><i>Information is a public good.</i>  This doesn&#x27;t mean it costs nothing to produce (the contrary), but high-quality public information has a high positive externality to the common wealth (that is, the commonwealth), and is essential in a democratic society.<p>Some see the solution as micropayments.  I disagree strongly, see Nick Szabo, Clay Shirky, and Hal Varian as to why not.  <i>Superbundling</i> might work, but the ultimate superbundle is a highly aggregated, means-based fee.  Either a direct tax (income or wealth-indexed) or bundled into broadband services.  The former strikes me as more equitable, the latter as more viable.<p><i>The costs are low.</i>  A $100&#x2F;year average fee per $30k in income, charged <i>only</i> among OECD nations, would cover all online advertising revenues.  A $500&#x2F;30k rate would cover the <i>entire</i> advertising industry.  ($30k is chosen as roughly median OECD per capita income.)<p>(Note: corrected from earlier figures which applied to worldwide population:  $20&#x2F;person and $100&#x2F;person would cover everything, if paid by everyone, though I see an argument for progressivity applying the tax to developed nations.)<p>The distortions, perverse incentives, inefficiencies, privacy invasions, security risks, and more, of the present model simply aren&#x27;t worth it.<p>HN&#x27;s policy is that paywall-based stories are acceptable.  I disagree strongly with this view.  The WSJ is trying to play both sides of the subscriber-only &#x2F; viral content game.  And are providing increasingly slanted, unreliable, Murdoch-tainted content to boot.  I view it as barely above spam.<p>There are other sources, they should be allowed and encouraged.  WSJ should be blacklisted.<p>And yes, I absolutely would like to see an alternative publication financing model pursued.  I&#x27;m not holding my breath.  But supporters of the model I&#x27;ve proposed include Richard M. Stallman of FSF and Phil Hunt of Pirate Party, UK, among others.<p>Previously, on global advertising spend, publishing models, and per-capita costs:
<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;plus.google.com&#x2F;104092656004159577193&#x2F;post" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;plus.google.com&#x2F;104092656004159577193&#x2F;post</a> &#x2F;adKy4gM317c<p>Several posts on content syndication, and inherent problems of information goods and markets:
<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.reddit.com&#x2F;r&#x2F;dredmorbius&#x2F;search?q=content+syndication&amp;restrict_sr=on&amp;sort=relevance&amp;t=all" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.reddit.com&#x2F;r&#x2F;dredmorbius&#x2F;search?q=content+syndic...</a><p>Hal Varian (UC Berkeley economist, Google&#x27;s chief economist) on information goods and markets:
<a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;people.ischool.berkeley.edu&#x2F;~hal&#x2F;Papers&#x2F;japan&#x2F;index.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;people.ischool.berkeley.edu&#x2F;~hal&#x2F;Papers&#x2F;japan&#x2F;index.h...</a>