The combination of the interests of telephone network owners and the naivety of network fans has turned the concept of “open access”, which began life with quite a different purpose, into a worldwide assault on authors’ rights. Actually, behind the façade of noble ideas, such as cultural freedom, an economic conflict is being waged for the possession of saleable contents – misleadingly offered as gifts – for consumers, so as to keep them in the network. It is only by making sure that an author can receive earnings from the circulation of his/her works that his/her independence can be protected, together with the survival of freedom of thought