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News & ArtsTuesday, February 12, 2013
Media / Teh Internets New URL Hack Bypasses New & Improved New York Times Paywall
Posted by Goldy on Tue, Feb 12, 2013 at 4:13 PM
For the past two years, millions of information freeloaders like me have been bypassing the New York Times Internet paywall with a simple URL hack: Just delete everything in the browser address field starting with the "?" character, and reload the page. But thanks to a new and improved paywall that went live today, that hack suddenly stopped working.
Media and tech blogs are chattering with various other workarounds, but after a couple minutes of URL hacking, I've devised the simplest one yet: Just select everything in the browser address field starting with the "?" character, replace the string with a "/" character, and reload. Voila: Free NY Times!
Not that you should bypass the NY Times paywall, what with newspapers being the lifeblood of democracy and all, but, you know, you're welcome.
1
nothing like a directory invocation.
A lot of why people turn off ads and paywalls has to do with how obnoxious people make them. I've noticed certain Chrome ads on FB have repeating images and movies. Time to go reset the AdBlock filters.
A lot of why people turn off ads and paywalls has to do with how obnoxious people make them. I've noticed certain Chrome ads on FB have repeating images and movies. Time to go reset the AdBlock filters.
2
I pay for my NYTimes subscription because I want to support the news industry. Supporting paywall subversion isn't the best move, methinks, for somebody whose income relies on getting paid for written content.
4
weird. I just clicked around on about 50 stories and none of them prompted me to pay for anything....am I missing something?
5
One word: ookie-cay.
The L.A. Times is probably the toughest paywall to crack. (Also the content I'm least likely to pay for.) But here's a hint: they aren't using their own cookie. They partnered with a larger entity to piggyback the paywall on the other company's cookie. It's a cookie most folks do not want to delete.
The L.A. Times is probably the toughest paywall to crack. (Also the content I'm least likely to pay for.) But here's a hint: they aren't using their own cookie. They partnered with a larger entity to piggyback the paywall on the other company's cookie. It's a cookie most folks do not want to delete.
7
@5 NYT has cookie detection, and the site has pop-ups if you disable their specific tracking cookie. This doesn't stop you from just deleting their cookie every few days, or in my preferred method, simply reading their site using private browsing. Ctrl+Shift+N (Chrome), nytimes.com or latimes.com; when the firewall comes up just close the window, open a new one and resume consumption.
9
This isn't new at all. I've been doing it since it went in place. And you don't have to put the "/" in, just delete everything from the question mark on.
11
I just periodically Reset Safari (on my mac) and viola, Free NY Times without having to do anything involving thought.
13
If there's a not-too-food-smeared copy of the NYT or Fairview Fannie laying around in my favorite coffee shop, I'll grab it and read the second-hand news for free.
There's no way to read second-hand online content, but I guess as long as someone, somewhere pays for it, I can convince myself I'm just reading their leftover edition.
Right...? Right...?
There's no way to read second-hand online content, but I guess as long as someone, somewhere pays for it, I can convince myself I'm just reading their leftover edition.
Right...? Right...?
17
@16
Ten bucks says he's got his New Yorker subscription on autopay.
Journalists are like anyone else-- they'll pay for news that flatters their self-image.
Ten bucks says he's got his New Yorker subscription on autopay.
Journalists are like anyone else-- they'll pay for news that flatters their self-image.
18
I've been truncating the URL for years, but if I ever get an actual job that pays actual money I will redeem my debt of honor to the Times and subscribe.
20
You know, I'd happily pay a buck a week or so for the NYT online, but that's not one of the options.
22
How to locally disable the NYT paywall
(Unlike the NYClean bookmarklet, this doesn't affect the visibility of article comments in Chrome, if you like reading them or commenting. It also doesn't make you clear all cookies, which logs you out of all websites you're normally logged in):
1. In Chrome, go to the Chrome store and install the Edit This Cookie extension.
2. Read some NYT articles, get annoyed at the "Pay up or else" banner.
3. Click the cookie button in the Chrome bar, you get a menu of NYT cookies.
4. Click on the "nyt-m" cookie, then on "Flag this cookie"; it will disappear from the list.
5. Read on & spread the word if it worked for you.
(Unlike the NYClean bookmarklet, this doesn't affect the visibility of article comments in Chrome, if you like reading them or commenting. It also doesn't make you clear all cookies, which logs you out of all websites you're normally logged in):
1. In Chrome, go to the Chrome store and install the Edit This Cookie extension.
2. Read some NYT articles, get annoyed at the "Pay up or else" banner.
3. Click the cookie button in the Chrome bar, you get a menu of NYT cookies.
4. Click on the "nyt-m" cookie, then on "Flag this cookie"; it will disappear from the list.
5. Read on & spread the word if it worked for you.
23
Or you could just open your fucking wallet and pay for what is clearly a valuable service, you cheap bastard.
25
DOES NOT WORK, ONLY TAKES A BIT LONGER TO BLOCK YOUR READING, UNLESS YOU CLICK X THEN THE PAGE STOPS LOADING. YOU DEFINITELY CANNOT PRINT.
26
@13: There is a sort of method for getting at NYT online second-hand. NYT allows web surfers to read articles freely that they locate by way of some alternate sites. If you do a Google search using the title of the article, you will often find websites -- i.e., blogs, feeds, etc. -- that abstract the stories and link to their NYT pages. If you follow those links you can read them without encountering any paywall grief.
27
This works, if you have AdBlock installed in your browser:
Go to AdBlock options, click on the 'customize' tab, click 'edit' to manually edit your filters, paste this in, and hit save:
*://*.nytimes.com/*/gwy.js*
*://*.nytimes.com/*/gw.js*
Go to AdBlock options, click on the 'customize' tab, click 'edit' to manually edit your filters, paste this in, and hit save:
*://*.nytimes.com/*/gwy.js*
*://*.nytimes.com/*/gw.js*
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