You're absolutely correct: it's perfectly legal to download free articles. But this is why I made my "semantics matter" argument a few days ago: He said "downlo

You're absolutely correct: it's perfectly legal to download free articles. But this is why I made my "semantics matter" argument a few days ago: He said "download and free," free being a verb and intending to mean "set them free." Yes, there appears to be an allusion to Aaron's particular case. However, one could certainly see where a particular journal publisher holds the copyright on many excellent articles made available online for a fee having to protect their copyright from some unscrupulous academician using their paid acces to liberate those writings. And how, given the predilection of prosecutors to scare would-be defendants, automating that task might see the threat of criminal charges. To actually respond to your comment, it may be legal to download free articles (and it's probably legal to download articles for which you've paid), but is it legal to distribute someone else's copyrighted work without their permission? Price doesn't matter.