Working within the existing HTTP spec is an idea worth pursuing. Of course I'm biased because my startup is in the process of doing just this by implementing a

Working within the existing HTTP spec is an idea worth pursuing. Of course I'm biased because my startup is in the process of doing just this by implementing a 402 server. http://www.fairtread.com/ http://www.fairtread.com/ While the status code is a good place to start, you really need Accept-Monetization and the corresponding Content-Monetization headers to fill out the picture. We propose these to work the same way that Accept-Language and Content-Language headers work. Essentially the user passes along the monetization methods they allow, and when there's a mismatch on the server, a 402 error occurs...along with instructions on how to fix that. The ideal system would allow multiple ways to pay for content, and would include advertising as a "free" option.