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How in the world does new york times keep track of how many articles you've read before slapping the paywall? It seems to work even if you switch to private mod
by tndibona 3y ago
How in the world does new york times keep track of how many articles you've read before slapping the paywall? It seems to work even if you switch to private mode or use a different browser from the same machine.
- mtmail 3y agoI thought they do it by HTTP referrer. Paywall by default but if you came from e.g. a Google result page it's lifted.
- oneplane 3y agoBrowser fingerprinting, probably network fingerprinting as well. Neither require client persistence.
- vinni2 3y agoAnd yet they don’t block reader view. I have reader view always on and I can read all articles on NY times for free.
- tndibona 3y agoWow this is a neat hack. Thanks
- gymbeaux 3y agoMy guess is that works because the article loads a split second before the paywall and Safari (or whatever) has cached that article for reader view. If NYT wanted to get around this they could load only that first part of the article that shows before the paywall until someone signs in with a valid subscription.