Single Subscription, Multi-Logins May Get You Into Hot Water

[engine]

Single Subscription, Multi-Logins May Get You Into Hot Water [mediamemo.allthingsd.com]

Earlier today I suggested that we were headed toward a two-tier information economy where wealthy people pay for good stuff and everyone else gets free crappy stuff. But I may have miscalculated–maybe even rich people won’t be willing to buy the good stuff.

That’s one lesson you might derive from this odd lawsuit: The Financial Times is suing Stephen Schwarzman’s Blackstone Group (BX), claiming that the private equity group has been defrauding it since 2002. How? By allowing multiple people to use a single account to access articles on the paper’s FT.com site.

[g1smd]

Without reading the OA, I'd guess it'd come down to the wording of the subscription model.

If they offer a "single user subscription" and a "home subscription" and a "business subscription" I would assume that the latter two allowed multiple users.

If there's just a "subscription" and it is bought by a business, I would guess the waters are muddy unless the terms of the subscription actually stated "single user only".

How does a library get on with their "subscription"? That's going to be thousands of different users per year.

[phranque]

i think it's quite funny that blackstone is rubbing nickels together.
this is the same stephen schwarzman that paid rod stewart $1,000,000.00 to play for his 60th birthday party 2 years ago, followed by a several billion dollar IPO for BX.

[Essex_boy]

ah yes but the reason he can afford the rolling stones is because he does the above.....