New York Times Asks Twitter To Plug Paywall Loophole

Newser:

The pay barrier for the New York Times' online content goes up on Monday and the newspaper is scrambling to make it more like a wall and less like a curtain full of holes. Users will be allowed 20 page views a month before the barrier comes down. But articles linked to from Twitter and Facebook can be viewed independent of the limit, leaving a huge loophole that the Times is now seeking to plug.

Read the whole story: Newser

Comments

[Opening Shares]

11:18 PM on 03/23/2011

I must have read at least a dozen stories at the NYT site this month and my the count always reads as 2 as two stories read. I have a good idea of what makes it that way., but since I spent a half hour checking out a new hire at HuffPo yesterday to post a comment only to have it deleted, I'm not going to check it out and post the results here. Someone please tell me no one cares. I also know of a much better story on BoingBoing about this article's subject but I'm certainly not going to mention it here.

[gmb007]

01:10 AM on 03/24/2011

Thanks, Shares, for not mentioning that BB story. :) :)

[Opening Shares]

01:43 AM on 03/24/2011

And don't try to get it out of me how NoScript keeps the "stories read" count to two either.

[Mister Grumpy]

08:41 PM on 03/23/2011

This is all a part of the dumbing down of America........... Information is Power.......... by limiting the information the average person has access to............. they will be unable to make an informed decision............

[HumtyDumpty sat ona wall]

11:58 AM on 03/23/2011

Here is somebody's twitter feed of TimesWire links.

https://twitter.com/timeswiretap

What about this does the NYTimes think is copyright infringement?

As do quite a few other Twitter feeds, it posts links.

Why would Twitter change their policy for the NYTimes?

If they don't want links from social media, turn off that option on their own site.

Fair use doctrine applies.

[Michael D Sullivan]

11:05 AM on 03/23/2011

I've seen reports that you don't even need the applet with four lines of code; just turn off Javascript when you go to the NYT site. The pages are sent to your browser whether or not you are eligible to read them under the Times's policy; if you are ineligible, they are hidden by Javascript. No Javascript, no hiding.

[gevan]

10:20 AM on 03/23/2011

In the past HuffPo has linked to NYT stories. Will they continue to be viewable if you continue to link?

[Mister Grumpy]

08:44 PM on 03/23/2011

Maybe not........ or they just might do what my local paper has done........ only show some of the news on the on-line edition and what they do show is truncated.......... if you want the full story you have to pay for it.......... or be a subscriber to the printed edition............