There are definitely good free resources once you get on the internet, stack overflow (vc funded & only recently profitable?), github, wikipedia, early on.. rub

There are definitely good free resources once you get on the internet, stack overflow (vc funded & only recently profitable?), github, wikipedia, early on.. ruby on rails (and it's comparatively very friendly and prolific teaching community), etc... these are wonderful examples of accessing high quality data for free. Scholarly articles and research have been behind paywalls (jstore, etc.) if you don't have access through a university (which I never have.) Alternatively, everything is free if you pirate the content, I just don't think the numbers add up to having that be a lasting funding model. The most helpful "free" content for doing home electrical work, car repair, etc. which make a big difference for people on near $0 budgets is media on youtube. I think the argument could be made for publicly subsidized video, media hosting and other "utility" style services, but the mass adoption and accessibility of the internet for the poor wasn't built on that (as far as memory serves from my experience of being on BBSs and then online in the 90s.) and I think killing ads without an alternative feels like a regressive cart before horse approach.