I hated ITU, but because now I can get ITU documents freely,
Well, I've never hated the ITU, though I'm not sure the feeling is mutual.
I consider myself a long-term friend of this august organization and have
even served in the voluntary Friends of the ITU Auxiliary Standards Corps
Organization.
If you register on the ITU site, you can get up to 3 documents free, but you
may not redistribute those documents (except as printed copies within the
physical confines of your premises). After your three free documents, you
pay on a retail basis. This is certainly a step in the right direction,
though I'd be happier with n=3000 than n=3.
An interesting contrasting policy is the U.S. Patent Office where you can
get many documents free, and then pay for the full images. However, once
you've covered their "incremental costs", you are free to redistribute those
documents at will. Of course, bulk access to the USPTO database is not
yet available and it appears that this bulk service will be provided by
outside parties.
Even more interesting contrasts are the IETF and the U.S. SEC where you
can obtain all documents for free and redistribute at will.
I don't hate it any more.
Hate is not very productive, though long-term bewilderment seems to be
near universal in this case.
Regards,
Carl