[birdzoom (OP)]

I was thinking in something , is not quite php related, but I was thinking of an app that would encrypt a file (that file could be anything) and the author would create an encryption key giving an amount of money to be collected. It would become public and anyone could give as much money as wanted. when the needed amount was reached the file would be public to anyone (decrypted). does it make sense?

I am calling it "Distributed File Purchase Encryption" (DFPE)

~birdzoom


Mod edit - formatted subject as a question - please do this to help keep the forum tidy and easier to navigate. Thanks.

[birdzoom (OP)]

oops, sorry about the php mention... copy and paste

[grizelda]

Sounds more like the " Socialist File Allocation " system (SFA) where everyone gets free files until someone else runs out of money to pay for them.

[RD]

Sounds like a paywall, e.g. ...

Place content in your Drop.io drop and enable Paywall to charge users for access to your drop.
Access can be either per use or subscription based.

http://static.drop.io/paywall/paywall/pw_what.shtml   

[CliffordK]

Hmmm.

I like the idea of putting some kind of reasonable cap on the value and commercial lifespan of an item.  Like a toll bridge that should (in theory) pay for the capital cost and upkeep.

In a sense, Patent Law is already doing that with a 20 year limit.

Copyrights, however, are being extended to an insane period of time.  Who owns the "classic" movies such as Bogart & Hitchcock which are now the basis for so many more modern films?

How does one determine how much to ask for an item?

Should the latest Harry Potter book have the same value of a book that has a total distribution of a few thousand copies?

One of the things that I've noticed is that when I do web research (for personal use), I often run into abstracts where the articles are locked, to be released with a payment of $30 or so.  I don't even know if the information I'm looking is contained in the article.  It has no intrinsic value to me since I'm not making any profit on it. 

Of the articles that I can find in their entirety, perhaps 1/10 is of any real value to what I'm looking up.  So..  now I'm looking at the equivalent of $300 per semi-useful article.   [xx(]

It really is no different when one goes to a library.  Sit down, make a long list of potentially helpful articles.  Find a tiny fraction that actually are useful.

Should sitting in front of my computer be any different than thumbing through card catalogs (do they still use that term?) and crawling around dusty shelves?