The North Country Gazette, an online-only publication based in Chestertown, NY, wants you to know that reading their site without a subscription is serious business. How serious? Well, if you read more than one page on the site without a subscription, the site owner claims that she will use your IP address to track you down and sue you.
The site is now entirely password-protected after earning negative attention for the policy. (This probably would have been a better option in the first place.) BoingBoing captured the warnings while they were still up. For emphasis, one was in red Comic Sans.
This isn’t the site owner’s first experience with creative interpretations of copyright law. The North Country Gazette’s fair-use policy also made a cameo appearance in a legal ethics blog in 2006. The site publisher, in turn, sued the blogger for defamation.
Local newspaper boasts ultimate passive-aggressive paywall policy [BoingBoing]
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Comic Sans is serious business
Oh god that bloody eyesore of a font.
Where’s my bucket of fire, I need to kill this thing dead…
That was EXACTLY my first thought.
This is going to end well.
I’m kind of expecting You-Know-Who to unload a Denial of Service.
Doesn’t look like they even need to; the site got flat-out Slashdotted.
Unless the 4Channel hounds!
LOL! The sites already DOS’d!
Guess they don’t have to worry about it now.
Actually, it may be that the publicity of this whole ordeal has taken the site to its knees. When the story first broke on BoingBoing, I couldn’t get to it either.
Either way, it’s hilarious, and the whole thing will probably go down pretty soon due to lack of traffic or too much traffic.
Yes but thanks to URLesque, you can see ten articles in summary form at: http://www.urlesque.com/2010/10/25/the-north-country-gazette-will-sue-you-if-you-read-more-than-one/
I am particularly fascinated by the fiberglass rooster story.
Wow, they must have some pretty good articles.
I really can’t take a publication seriously if they insist on using Comic Sans.
but…but…it is BOLD and Red, either one of those qualities is enough to take someone seriously, but both at the same time, man, they really mean business!
That isn’t red, that is orange. Just makes it even more of a joke. CLOWNS
Not unless they resurrect the blink tag. Then I’ll take them seriously. And scrolling. Blinking and scrolling. Yesiree.
Make it a scrolling marquee for good measure.
I really can’t take a font seriously if it insist on being in this publication.
Offer online access to newspaper with no password protection.
Sue potential clients who don’t honor the honor system.
Profit????
If this site hasn’t changed from a couple days ago, there’s no username field nor a way to register for an account. Great business model!
Because when user’s subscribe, they are given a card with the password on it. Probably something like “p@ssword”. The card probably also states not to share the password with non-subscribers.
I can’t believe I just put an apostrophe to denote plurality. Honestly, folks, I know the difference between -s and -’s.
Shouldn’t that be
??????
Profit!
It reminds me how the coach from Cleveland reamed LaBron James in Comic Sans, to which I didn’t take anything he wrote seriously, except the guy was delusional and pissy. Comic Sans is like opposite-day
It was the owner, not the coach.
Owner* Still, same story, it was in comic sans… you cant throw a rant in comic sans and be taken seriously
They back-traced it and are going send the internet police after us. We done goof’d.
State police too. ;P
The consequences will never be the same!
What would happen if you had clicked on a link to thier site and then later did the same by accident?
Better question: What about shared computers(e.g. libraries) or households with multiple computers and same IP?
What if it’s a visitor from a government network? Will they sue the feds?
I tried to arrange just that. Given his stated ‘concentration’ on phone browsers though, he’s picking his targets carefully.
A S.W.A.T. Team busts in through your windows and skylights and you are thrown in prison for life, I imagine…
In response to the Comic Sans hate I quote this monologue from the great internet monologue database of McSweeneys: http://www.mcsweeneys.net/links/monologues/15comicsans.html
I’m Comic Sans, Asshole.
BY MIKE LACHER
- – - -
Listen up. I know the shit you’ve been saying behind my back. You think I’m stupid. You think I’m immature. You think I’m a malformed, pathetic excuse for a font. Well think again, nerdhole, because I’m Comic Sans, and I’m the best thing to happen to typography since Johannes fucking Gutenberg.
You don’t like that your coworker used me on that note about stealing her yogurt from the break room fridge? You don’t like that I’m all over your sister-in-law’s blog? You don’t like that I’m on the sign for that new Thai place? You think I’m pedestrian and tacky? Guess the fuck what, Picasso. We don’t all have seventy-three weights of stick-up-my-ass Helvetica sitting on our seventeen-inch MacBook Pros. Sorry the entire world can’t all be done in stark Eurotrash Swiss type. Sorry some people like to have fun. Sorry I’m standing in the way of your minimalist Bauhaus-esque fascist snoozefest. Maybe sometime you should take off your black turtleneck, stop compulsively adjusting your Tumblr theme, and lighten the fuck up for once.
People love me. Why? Because I’m fun. I’m the life of the party. I bring levity to any situation. Need to soften the blow of a harsh message about restroom etiquette? SLAM. There I am. Need to spice up the directions to your graduation party? WHAM. There again. Need to convey your fun-loving, approachable nature on your business’ website? SMACK. Like daffodils in motherfucking spring.
When people need to kick back, have fun, and party, I will be there, unlike your pathetic fonts. While Gotham is at the science fair, I’m banging the prom queen behind the woodshop. While Avenir is practicing the clarinet, I’m shredding “Reign In Blood” on my double-necked Stratocaster. While Univers is refilling his allergy prescriptions, I’m racing my tricked-out, nitrous-laden Honda Civic against Tokyo gangsters who’ll kill me if I don’t cross the finish line first. I am a sans serif Superman and my only kryptonite is pretentious buzzkills like you.
It doesn’t even matter what you think. You know why, jagoff? Cause I’m famous. I am on every major operating system since Microsoft fucking Bob. I’m in your signs. I’m in your browsers. I’m in your instant messengers. I’m not just a font. I am a force of motherfucking nature and I will not rest until every uptight armchair typographer cock-hat like you is surrounded by my lovable, comic-book inspired, sans-serif badassery.
Enough of this bullshit. I’m gonna go get hammered with Papyrus.
Pure genius.
I still fail to see how/ why so many people get their cyber-panties in a bunch over a simple font.
I mean it is not the world’s most attractive lettering, put it is plain and very easy to read.
I find it kind of visually bouncy, for lack of a better way to describe, and reading it is slightly harder than most other fonts.
It’s because it’s ugly and over-used to hell.
Insert “your mother” joke here.
“That’s what she said!” – Michael Scott
Agreed. Years ago, when I first started touching computers and had Word, I didn’t like the default font, so I make a test page of ALL the fonts listed, compared them side to side, and liked Comic Sans the best out of all of them. It was very easy to read at all sizes, and was kind of a soft-on-the-eyes font rather than the sharp razor-bladed fonts of the others. I did use it for quite a while until the rabid frothing at the mouth around the web became too loud and I changed it. I still think it’s a good font and still use it for my recipe book for its easy readability. So there, frothers.
Frothers. I love it. +10 internets.
I liked Comic Sans in my younger years, but these days I tend to use verdana as my all-purpose font, it is neutral and friendly without the goofiness.
I’m Comic Mother F@cking Sans!
I love it! This almost hits too close to home for me! I know all those fonts entirely too well.
I’m gonna go get hammered with Papyrus.
Too funny.
Best. Rant. Ever.
Totally agreed. Thanks for posting…gave me a good LOL while I’m working.
Dear Comic Sans,
Please! Please!! I take it all back, everything! I take it all back, every word! I love you! I LOVE you! *(sniff)* I can’t live without you! I’ll do anything!
http://wondermark.com/650/
Kanye, is that you?
“Enough of this bullshit. I’m gonna go get hammered with Papyrus.”
I’m neutral on Comic Sans, but I have a burning hatred for Papyrus that was born when I had a part-time job at a sign shop. Die in a fire, Papyrus.
So if somebody leaves a copy of the Dallas Morning News in the bathroom at work and I read it without paying the newspaper company am I stealing services?
My quick answer is “Only if you used it as TP.”
No more so than the 10-year old Readers Digests in your doctors waiting room. :p
This is the analogy they are attempting to use. So yes, if you were to pick up a newspaper left on the train and read it, you should be required to find the nearest retail outlet and pay the full price of the paper.
Now, I’m not sure how this works if you only find 1 section of the paper. Would you only be obligated to pay a pro-rated amount?
Well philosophilcally they’re right. They do provide a service and have every right to demand payment for it, but uh, yeah, probably wanna password-protect BEFORE you go making those threats.
Isn’t this a little bit like going to the park with your portable radio, and then suing anybody who can hear the music you’re playing?
Or with your portible music player using small speakers instead of headphones.
If this had crossed the RIAA’s mind, they probably would try to find a way to sue…
It’s more like putting out Halloween candy with a sign that says “take one,” then suing the kids that take more than one.
Except the sign really says “For each time you read this sign, you can take one”, and then they sue for taking more than one.
No, they’re not right. The server is responding to the client’s request. That’s the implicit granted contract right there.
The real question here is…
What the heck could possibly be going on in Chestertown, NY which is so earth-shakingly important that there are people willing to risk civil action and possible financial ruin just to find out ?
Gee…
unless they can prove to me that they have done top-quality “investigative journalism”, they aren’t getting my money any time soon.
From what I read off their front page, most of their news is redundant and boring.
So technologically, you can access more than one story? But if you do, they’ll track you down and sue you?
How about actually making it technologically impossible to view more than one story without a subscription. I personally don’t know how to do it, but I bet it’s pretty easy. A lot easier than tracking down people by IP and suing them …
If we only had the technology available to do such things….
OMG, lol! Shakin’ in my boots, I am.
That’s one of the stupidest things I’ve ever seen.
However, making fun of people’s font choices, however stupid they look, is getting pretty tired.
Nah, too easy. They whine about how non members are driving their costs up when the only costs are what they pay to lawyers to advise them on how much to charge for access to this raggedy web page.
Some people shouldn’t be connected to the internets.
Wonder if they actually subscribe to the Associated Press feeds or do they just copy and paste (and steal outright) from Google?
… or actually produce content. There’s a good chance of that, too.
I believe that people should be paid to produce original, journalistic writing. But this site fails miserably, because they didn’t bother to spend a couple dollars to actually implement what they needed for this system. Instead, they’re paying for a lawyer to subpoena IP information from ISPs and, ostensibly, sue people who violate their honor system. Major fail.
Like I said in another comment, it’s like putting out Halloween candy with a sign that says “take one,” then suing the kids who take more than one. How about just pass it out yourself?
Actually produce is unlikely. If you read some of the articles, there’s definitely appropriated content without attribution.
It appears as though the site is down completely, or they are now just blocking everyone’s IP……… I get the dreaded 403 Forbidden error message…..
Only happens when I tried to click from boingboing. Google worked fine.
Wait… how are they a .org?
good call!
Anyone can register a .org – the restrictions that used to be in place went away when registrars saw dollar signs.
I have a couple silly .org names…
I wonder how she is getting those IP addresses while people are using Web Proxies. Hmmm
I read a couple of their archived articles (which aren’t password-protected, but do have that stupid claim), and holy FSM, they should have to pay for me to have my brain bleached after reading that improperly-punctuated excuse for “journalism”.
I’m beginning to wonder whether this isn’t just some elaborate, anarchistic scheme to heap thousands of frivolous lawsuits upon the American legal system until it eventually collapses under the weight of one man’s desire to, literally, sue The Internet.
One *woman’s desire, that is.
They opened up a back door on the mainframe and are going to use e-worms to track the hard drives of people who are stealing their internets.
Quick, email everybody you know within 10 minutes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THEY CAN’T STOP ME I’M BEHIND 7 PROXIES
lol…I love how they single out Verizon Droids. Just goes to show it’s a dinosaur, and most likely the guy responsible for putting up that nonsense is some 70 year old newspaper publisher that doesn’t understand technology at all.
You didn’t know that Verizon Droids is an ISP now? Also by reading the entirety of my post, you are thefting my copywrites and owe me $10,000 or I will sue your IP address!
Thanks for making sure I never go to that website!
Aaaaaand that’s what proxies are for.
As a side note with all this Comic Sans hate going on, Comic Sans is a good font to help with dyslexia. Dyslexics can read it without as many problems. Studies have even shown that normal people make less transcription errors when reading Comic Sans. That said, it is possible to design more “normal” looking typefaces that have these same benefits
If you read past this “word” I am going to sue you.
Crap!
No, it should read, if you read more than one of my posts, you owe me $1.00. If you insist on reading more than one of my brilliant posts without paying, then I’ll sue.
I make more money this way!
“A subscription is required at North Country Gazette”.. um, no it wasn’t. Idiots.
So….. if they made it password-protected now then what’s the problem?
If they are basing personage on IP address (which is flawed all to hell in the first place), then there is absolutely zero reason why they can’t design their site to deny you access to a second article after you (or your IP) has read a first one.
Ineptitude, laziness, and incompetence — theirs — are the real crimes here.
AOL uses a single IP Address. I’m dialing in to AOL on my 14.4Kbaud modem via a Cuban satellite link from here in Madagascar. I anticipate the glory and joy of beheading any lawyer serving me papers. ;^)
So will they be suing google who cached thier pages
good luck and farewell.
Shorter North Country Gazette”
“F*&%ing Internet. How does it work?”
i would like to hire this lady as my marketer.
i didn’t know two things when i woke up this morning.
1) there’s a chestertown, NY
2) there’s an online quasi-subscription based blog that caters to chestertwonians
i now know these things because of one genius marketer.
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/headlines.html
They just don’t have any default document set. I just added index.asp and it gave me links.
Kind of anal retentive if you ask me.
It is not theft of service if it was up without any sort of security in place to protect it.
And, collecting IP addresses? Really? Apparently nobody employed by that establishment has ever heard of a proxy.
criggin’ funt.
The North County Gazette is not a real news site, it’s the personal blog of one June Maxam. To put it mildly, June Maxam is a VERY sad and unhappy mentally ill woman that lives in upper New York. Normally I don’t consider Encyclopedia Dramatica to be a very good source of information but it appears to be the only source of data on this individual:
http://encyclopediadramatica.com/June_Maxam
I thought that No Reading was a northwestern suburb of Boston?
http://edp.org/bin/noread.jpg
Tor
I would like to state that most New Yorkers are not this stupid, but honestly? I would be lying. Passive-aggressive shit like this is par for the course in many small towns; the only difference is that this reached a wider audience.
“I’ll create a GUI interface using visual basic. See if I can track an IP address”
the north country gazette chick is nuts:
http://encyclopediadramatica.com/June_Maxam
Ok, if they put it on their internet site and make no attempt to enforce a subscription only policy via common methods like a userid and password, how in the heck can they legally claim exclusive rights? If they make it publicly available without a reasonable attempt to protect it doesn’t it become public domain?
I suppose they can go to local small claims court, but the cost of finding out who you are, filing in small claims court and giving the required notice would cost them far more than they could collect.
Better yet, just because they win in small claims court, doesn’t mean they’ll get the money either.
Dumb.
BTW – I like Comic Sans… after writing three pages of very dense Times Roman, Comic Sans is perfect for comic relief and emphasis.
Anybody care for KidPrint??? hehehe
IP addresses are meaningless. Most consumers don’t have a static IP so that IP changes every time the modem is reset/powered on. The few dial-up consumers that are still out there get a different IP every time they sign on. Many people are behind proxies (e.g. my computer at work always indicates being from St. Paul, MN because our corporate offices are there. My office is in Portland, OR).
Good luck.
When you walk past my house and look a my front lawn, it’s OK, that’s free of charge, but the roses towards your right can only be looked at if you have a subscription (even though they’re right there in front of you).
Denial Of Service attack in 3…2…1…
I think the internet broke them.
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/ has been giving a 403 since BoingBoing picked this up on Monday.
lol, i don’t know how they’ll make a living with no subscribers
they be fools
I’ll use a proxy server if I decide to read multiple articles. Thanks for the warning.