Agreed. RSS readily supports password protected feeds, as does my rss reader of choice, but even the paywalled content I subscribe to almost never supports tha

Agreed. RSS readily supports password protected feeds, as does my rss reader of choice, but even the paywalled content I subscribe to almost never supports that. I've asked why and the answer is it's just not tenable given how vital engagement and usage data is to the internal functioning of those organizations.