What's remarkable is the solution to the paywall is "cmd-L, cmd-C, cmd-shift-N, cmd-V, enter". This will get you through the paywall 100% of the time. Replace cmd with ctrl on a PC. I want a T-shirt that says this. I've tried to teach some less-tech-literate friends but they just can't remember the commands. They don't understand that just pasting the link into incognito mode in chrome or firefox will give them the content, so they pay.
I agree, Michael. The best way to solve the privacy issues we face is to show businesses we'll pay for services or content we like. We may be picky, but we'll pay.
Disclaimer, but hopefully not a disqualifying one: I'll be launching a paid subscription service next fall.
How do I pay without providing my True Name? Unless anonymous digital payment becomes commonplace and widely understood, paywalls are one of the biggest threats to privacy. At least with the dead tree edition, they didn't know exactly which articles most interested any subscriber.
I can't answer for anonymity- to me that's a separate question. I'm referring to the spreading of information that I've trusted one seller with. For instance, I'll give the NYT my true name and email, but I don't want them to give that information to real-estate developers in FL because they've profiled me to be an old fart.
i have no problem paying. i have no problem that they pay. i am struck by how low the barrier is to not having to pay, but it still might as well be a 40 foot wall to the technically illiterate. my attitude is more one of marveling at how different non-technical and technical folks look at the world.
"marveling at how different non-technical and technical folks look at the world"
I've felt that way before, too. There are times I show someone something that is technically simple (to me) but, when I try to show it to someone, I see a glaze go over their eyes.
Part of the problem is that what I think is technically simple, really isn't because it requires background knowledge that I forget they don't have. Even if it's a basic technical knowledge that's lacking, it's still one more thing they need to learn before they learn this "simple" task I'm trying to show them.
Another issue is disinterest. If they really aren't interested in the solution, they won't give it much effort. In your case, people seem to be comfortable paying for the Times subscription, so they're probably not interested in learning about how to get around it.
Or simply by disabling cookies for the nytimes.com domain. And the fact that the paywall can be circumvented so easily is most definitely a feature -- it's brilliant customer segmentation
(edit: Because it allows students and tech-literate people to get to the content for free. So NYTimes content will do very well on social media sites, which in turn keeps the NYTimes relevant for younger people. Who will get a subscription when they graduate and become professionals.)
