Oh, the Villainy

Turned up this quote from Andrew Keen, author of The Cult of the Amateur: How blogs, MySpace, YouTube, and the rest of today's user-generated media are destroying our economy, our culture, and our values, in the AFP article "Media heavyweights spar over charging for news online":

"We do need to fight the culture of free, the culture which suggests that large media companies or for that matter small media companies don't have the right to charge for their content," he said.

"Media companies if they choose can give their stuff away for free but they shouldn't be vilified if they choose to build pay walls around it and sell it," Keen said.

Vilified?

Mr. Keen has constructed a rather large man of straw to make his argument.

I don't know of anyone saying that media companies don't have the right to charge for their content. I don't know of anyone saying that they're villains for doing so.

I do know, though, that I have the right to not pay if I choose. And that doesn't make me a villain. Chief.