Is the Internet free?

[DSKYZD]

There was an opinion in another thread that got me thinking about this. Forget free as in speech, but think free as in money. But money isn't free is it? You know what I mean though.

I personally pay a monthly fee to access the internet. ARPANET was funded with government money, grants funded development of standard protocols. Even free software distributed under GPL and BSD "free" licenses (oh God, please don't let us get into a debate about the difference between these two) needs money to survive.

I can't think of a single aspect of the Internet that is free. There are tons and tons of sites that I don't pay money directly to for sure. I am quite thankful that is the case. But I would wager that most of them are run by someone who pays something for them to be there.

DSKYZD

[Boxer]

Just like the internet, there is absolutely no charge for standing on the moon watching the earth in the night sky.

[towerworker]

"Just like the internet, there is absolutely no charge for standing on the moon watching the earth in the night sky."


Now the fuel costs for getting there would be something else!

towerworker