[hannob]

> I don't understand how governments have the authority to make private companies (journal publishers) give-away their product for free. The fact that much of the research is funded by taxpayers is not relevant -- scientists have voluntarily submitted their work to private publishers for publication.

Of course they have the authority. Publishers own these works on the basis of copyright law. Laws can be changed by governments.

[type0]

> Publishers own these works on the basis of copyright law.

That is actually one interesting discrepancy, I think there are some countries where you can not assign away the copyright to your work for someone else in a manner that you loose the copyright yourself. Anyone familiar with this or am I just remembering things incorrectly? In such case how would Elsevier and the like react when someone decides to put their work published in such paper on their blog for free?