> "paying" for access wasn't an official option Official and unofficial are two ends of a long sliding scale. Many paywalled newsites allow unlimited access if

> "paying" for access wasn't an official option Official and unofficial are two ends of a long sliding scale. Many paywalled newsites allow unlimited access if the article is accessed through links from search engines. This is an "unofficial" option. Accessing American TV shows from within China is more "unofficial". Firewalls are set up by those who claim ownership over the people using the net; paywalls are set up by those who claim ownership over the information being accessed. Not only do both those concepts of ownership sound suspect to me, but also from the user's POV the experience of a Firewall and a paywall on the official-unofficial spectrum is the same. Edit: By "paying" I meant paying with money (e.g. VPN's), with time (e.g. a day in HK), with guanxi (e.g. friends scaping and emailing sites), etc.