Comment by seszett

Well, the BnF might not consider Stanford's usage as commercial, especially since they say it's a "collaboration".

Besides, as mentioned on the BnF website, the law allows public administration to charge for license or usage, regardless of commercial or not, of material they have collected, produced or provided at cost, as long as it doesn't make a profit[0].

I still think individuals should obviously have free access to it (citizens or not), but I don't see the current situation as as outrageous as you want to make it, and definitely not as abuse from the upper class (which is very real, in other domains).

[0]http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichTexte.do?cidTexte=JORFTE...