Switched has a new home! Huffpost Tech.

Click here to visit the new home of Switched!

Hot on HuffPost Tech:

See More Stories
AOL Tech

Read Magazines Online for Free, For Now...

by Will Safer on August 20, 2008 at 05:18 PM

An offshore Web site is encouraging people to upload and share paid magazine content, something the magazine industry is none too happy about.

Mygazines.com wants its users to "upload, share and archive" magazines, and has full copies of titles such as 'The Economist' and 'Men's Health' available. There are no ads on the Web site and readers can register for free. While the site claims its digital copies are no different from the copies of magazines people pick up and read while waiting in a doctor's office, magazine publishers certainly feel different.

Several publishers are looking into ways of shutting the site down, but since it is registered in Anguilla, a British territory in the Caribbean, U.S. law doesn't reach far enough. Even its registration information seems a little shady: The domain name is owned by one "John Smith," who seems to be tough to find.

Lawyers say the site goes beyond fair use rules by encouraging people to upload and share protected content, and you may remember file-sharing site Grokster getting in trouble for this kind of activity. While protected content sometimes ends up on YouTube, for example, that site does its best to remove the video when asked by the copyright owner.

Interestingly there's a contest for users who sign up lots of friends, with a $1000 award being given out every month for the next six months, and then a $5000 grand prize being awarded in February of 2009. What we can't figure out is where Mygazines gets the money. With no registration fee and no advertising, we guess John Smith is just feeling generous. [From: USA Today]

Tags: copyright, Magazines

Comments

1

HuffPost AOL Social News Most Popular