Letter from John A. Rudy

Sharing Articles Can Be Okay

Ms. Eckler assumes too much when she suggests that only readers who have digital subscriptions should be allowed to copy and share material from newspapers and other media [“Paywall There for Good Reasons,” by Carla Eckler, The Freeman’s Journal, Sept. 19, A-4].

My wife and I do not have digital subscriptions to any newspapers, magazines or other media. We prefer the print versions. We find it more pleasurable and civilized reading from them than from peering at a screen.

We purchase newspapers daily and “The Freeman’s Journal” weekly, from the stands at local stores where they are sold in Cooperstown. We divide the sections and enjoy reading them with our breakfast. If there is something we see that we’d like to share, we do so without feeling guilty of engaging in some form of theft, since the piece is taken from our paid-for copy. The same holds true for our print subscriptions to magazines and journals, which are received by mail.

John A. Rudy
Cooperstown