Some time ago a colleague and I were discussing whether or not the information available on the internet should be made available absolutely free. He held the opinion that the internet constituted the most significant breakthrough in the open exchange of information in the history of mankind and as such the information it conveyed should be freely available to everyone at no cost. On the other hand, while I agreed that the internet was a ground breaking leap forward in the sharing of information, I was not so certain that everything available on the net should be available free of charge. “What about all that music that is freely downloaded every day”, I asked “or the movies and software packages that are pirated, aren’t each of these the property of someone else who has a right to be rewarded for their creative effort and compensated for the expenses they incurred in creating the intellectual property others enjoy and use?”

As our discussion progressed we touched upon the questions of whether creative people such as artists, musicians and writers own the product of their unique talents and are, therefore, entitled to be paid for their work by those who appreciate it, enjoy listening to it or use it to their benefit. And, “What about the initial expense incurred in creating this intellectual property, along with the cost of making it available, shouldn’t these expenses be covered by those who use, enjoy or benefit from the creator’s efforts?” Naturally, my friend agreed that many of my views were valid, as I agreed with his premise that the internet should remain free and unrestricted. Our discussion was becoming quite interesting, for we had chosen one of those topics that are not easily answered due to there being equally legitimate and compelling arguments on both sides which, at first, seem to be irreconcilable.

This dilemma occurs because the internet makes extremely attractive material actions possible for the first time in our history, such as the free downloading of music, which then come into conflict with what the majority of us have long held as being morally right and fair. Where such differing interests overlap there is an area of action that causes most of us to feel morally obligated by our actions. When such action is taken and the attending moral obligations are ignored, as is often the case when intellectual property found on the internet provides benefit without payment being made for this benefit, a sense of guilt creeps in on us and feeling guilty about our actions is contrary to true happiness. So how are we to freely benefit from all that the internet provides while, at the same time, feeling good about our actions?

During our discussion, even though my friend and I held what appeared to be conflicting views, we quickly agreed that what was needed was a fresh perspective on the now familiar process of sharing information via the internet: A new model that would allow one to freely access and benefit from the information found on the internet without compromising what most held to be morally right and fair. But what this new paradigm was to be was beyond our ken at the time. For such a model, to be fair to everyone, would have to bring all of these equally valid yet opposing interests together without compromising or diminishing any one of them substantially. A tall order indeed for any philosopher, let alone my friend and I. Naturally, I told Jeane about this conversation and we continued it for some time without coming to any useful conclusions and, because of this failure, we were going to drop this line of inquiry when, quite by accident, I stumbled upon a workable solution to this dilemma, where else but on the internet.

There has been a lot of interest recently, both in the media and in the courts, centering on how one should pay for the use of intellectual property when the property is accessed freely via the internet. The article I stumbled upon (by Robert Woodhead) proposed that a long standing business model, one which we are all familiar with, already exists to fit this need. It is called tipping. Tipping is totally voluntary; there is no legal requirement to tip a waiter, for instance, yet, assuming that the service provided by the waiter is acceptable, almost everyone in North America leaves a tip. An interesting thing about tipping is that tips are paid even when the customer is never going to visit a distant or inconveniently located restaurant again. The reason why the majority of us do this is because we feel that we have taken on a moral obligation by accepting the waiter’s service to pay him or her for this service.

If we could apply the model provided by the custom of tipping, much as public TV does, to the use of the many services provided over the internet then we would have found a fair and amicable solution to both the legitimate monetary interests of the intellectual property provider and the moral obligations of the on-line consumer who benefits in some way from the use of this property. Furthermore, since tipping is widely practiced in our society and the greatest majority of us are honest, the owners of intellectual property would be fairly compensated for their creations by the on-line consumer who benefited from them and clicked on the appropriate donate button. One example of this is our web site where we offer a wide selection of helpful articles for free in addition to our paid materials. Typically about 12% of our visitors “tip” us by leaving us a donation to help us defray the cost of providing this service to them.

Both Jeane and I thank all of you who have supported our site with your donations. Naturally, we do not expect anyone to make a donation if they have not, in some way, benefited from the service we provide. However, if you do feel that you have benefited from our site please consider “tipping” us for our efforts on your behalf. The amount you contribute to us is not as important to you as is the commitment this donation indicates you’ve made to obtain the happiness you deserve in your relationship or marriage. When considering the amount to donate simply let your conscience be your guide, we will deeply appreciate whatever amount you feel is appropriate. For we are all in this effort together; this is your site as much as it is ours and through it we not only help one another but many, many equally deserving others as well to find lasting happiness.

Please benefit from and enjoy our site,

Good Bye for now from,

Eric and Jeane