It is fascinating to read between the lines and learn business diplomacy from Mike.
I agree with David, when it comes to the legality and morality of the issue, "opt out" simply empowers the illegal and immoral actions of these secondary agrigators and distributors of our content. They want and take our content because it has a higher value that what they have to pay for it. The fact that their business model is based on paying absolutely nothing for the content is the problem. "We cannot afford it" sounds pretty lame when they have million dollar budgets. But even on lesser budgets what happened to the "micro payment" idea? Wern't computers supposed to make "micro payments" practical? Why don't they set a policy of always paying, then pay what they can negotiate with the content maker? Blip has done it so we know it is possible. If they cannot arrive at an agreement with the content makers, then they don't take the content. This seems pretty simple, and most of us learned it from our Mommies by the time we were ten: "If it doesn't belong to you, then don't take it." Every particle of the conflict in this issue arises out of the fact that it appears they think they can ignore this basic tenant of our morality-based society. I think the fact that they do, or do not, "show their faces" in this discussion tells us a lot about their character and intent. Mike and all, thanks for the good works and thoughtful discussions. John www.HistoricHomeWorks.com
