At 5:12 PM -0800 3/27/03, Greg Broiles wrote: >Are they going to do it? Seems unlikely to me - ultimately they're not >motivated by a desire to bring the truth to the world (or we wouldn't >trust them), they're motivated by a desire to make money, probably by >licensing their content to satellite operators, cable TV operators, >or by selling ad space/time to commercial sponsors. Freenet distribution >doesn't help them make money licensing content, and it's difficult to >sell ads if you don't have good data about viewership and their >demographics, given the attenuated relationship between media ads >and subsequent purchases.
I beg to differ with you here. If the content is signed, then the signed content can include the ads. That binding will create an incentive to keep the ad and the content together. Getting an idea of the readership might be possible with the older file sharing networks by finding which machines have the files. In the end, of course, Al-Jazeera will have to decide whether bypassing censorship while under attack, with the expected increase in readership, and loss of detailed readership information is worth it. It would certainly give the file sharing networks an A1, ACLU approvable, reason for existence. Cheers - Bill ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bill Frantz | Due process for all | Periwinkle -- Consulting (408)356-8506 | used to be the | 16345 Englewood Ave. [EMAIL PROTECTED] | American way. | Los Gatos, CA 95032, USA
