Great post this from Charles Stross that  sums up a lot of my own badly expressed thoughts about the perils of free/open access content.

At the end of the day if no-one pays for content, then why is it going to be produced. Also similar theme alluded to in Peter F. Hamilton‘s Misspent Youth where any decent original content becomes obsolete, because there’s no motivation to create it any more.

I really wish the free information enthusiasts would realise this – they’re potentially condemning mankind to a future of cultural drivel through their juvenile attempts to get something for free. I really wish they would spend their time on some decent ’cause’ such as the real information censorship that is happening in countries like China.