I think it's actually pretty brilliant on NYT's part. They're forcing Google to fix the problem instead of working around it like Google has asked everyone else

I think it's actually pretty brilliant on NYT's part. They're forcing Google to fix the problem instead of working around it like Google has asked everyone else to do. This isn't Google's Internet; they don't get to tell us how to use it. It's their job to take what's there and index it in a useful way.