The Internet Fallacy
The "Internet Fallacy" is essentially the false belief that "everything's on the Web". The reality is much different:
- FACT: Everything is not on the Web.
- FACT: Information not available for free on the Web includes most copyright-protected documents (e.g., journal articles, conference literature, most books).
- FACT: Information not on the Web includes the majority of everything ever published. One significant reason for this state-of-affairs is simply the fact that large-scale print-to-electronic conversion is labor-intensive and expensive.
Copyright Law
Copyright law protects the intellectual property and products of information producers, such as book publishers, magazine and journal publishers, and others. It is hardly in the interest of information producers to give this information away for free on the Web when they are in the business to make a profit from it. Generally speaking, then, they don't give it away. On the Web, you occasionally find protected material, but in reality, most protected material is not on the Web. Moreover, spurred by fears of how easy it is to disseminate materials over the Web, many publishers have successfully pushed for more strict amendments to the copyright law.
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