As to the claim about free info being in the authors interest, see
Accelerando!
Read two sections in particular:
Accelerando! Yes, I know all the links look the same, but they go different places.
and
Accelerando!
The executive summary is that Charles Stross, a well established award winning author thinks that giving away a free etext of the book at the same time it is available in hard copy is a viable and improved marketing strategy.
Which is not a claim to post chunks of his story all over the place in violation of the CC license, but to show that copyright isn't everything (read $$$) big business thinks it is either.
Oh, and it's a good book with some excellent chapters but it wasn't written linearly. And free to read/download at
Accelerando!
Phil