Re Getting around paywalls ...

["Dave Farber" <farber () gmail com>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Dan Tappan <dan.tappan () gmail com>
> Date: April 25, 2017 at 8:06:11 AM EDT
> To: dave () farber net, ip <ip () listbox com>
> Subject: Re: [IP] Re Getting around paywalls ...
>
>
> I've been calling for a micro-payments system for reading newspaper articles for a long time. I'm all for supporting 
> journalism, and I have digital subscriptions to a number of publications, but asking people to pay on the order of 
> $200 a year to 1/2 dozen different publications is just not reasonable. Absolute $$$ aside, by the time you get to 
> that many subscriptions you're just reading the occasional article from each so the $$/article is way out of whack.
>
> So I was excited to see the previous message about Blendle.com, and now this one about Inkle.com. I jumped on getting 
> a beta account on Blendle and immediately discovered a fatal flaw: what these sites seem to be trying to provide is a 
> digital aggregate magazine, a web site you can log into to find a curated set of articles from a variety of sources.
>
> That's cool, but it's not the way I (nor, I suspect, most) read newspaper articles these days. Instead we find 
> articles that look interesting through posts on Facebook, Twitter, Feedly, click through, and hit a paywall (and it 
> doesn't help that when you're linking to articles though apps on an iPhone cookies are not shared across apps - so 
> even if you have a paid subscription odds are that you'll have to log in again to read the article)
>
> So the illicit way to read an article behind a paywall takes about two steps: copy the link, open an incognito window 
> and go to the link.
>
> Reading the article through Blendle seems to take more steps than that: find something that identifies the article, 
> open a link to Blendle, search through the publishers for the publication you want and then search articles until you 
> find the one you are looking for.
>
> The only way that these are going succeed is if they can make reading an article as easy as clicking on a link and 
> immediately going to the article, with an accompanying debit from your micro-payments account. Maybe this could be 
> done with a plugin that automatically intercepts links to publications and turns them into links to the same article 
> on (e.g.)Blendle.
> More likely it needs some cooperation from the publisher so they can recognize when someone has an account on a 
> micropayments system.
>
> But my point is that unless using these systems is _easier_ than cheating people will end up cheating even if they 
> would rather pay. Or they just won't bother to read the articles which has the same effect as far as the publisher is 
> concerned.
>
> A second order issue is that the prices on Blendle seem somewhat high, up to $0.50 to read an article. Micropayment 
> systems probably will be most successful when the individual costs feel trivial, or when the costs are hidden in a 
> monthly subscription fee. Excessive a-la-carte prices are likely to discourage use, and be self defeating.
>
> On 4/25/17 4:02 AM, Dave Farber wrote:
> > ---------- Forwarded message ---------
> > From: Stephe Wilks <stephe.wilks () hepl com au>
> > Date: Tue, Apr 25, 2017 at 12:06 AM
> > Subject: RE: FW: [IP] Getting around paywalls ...
> > To: <farber () gmail com>
> > Cc: <dave () farber net>
> >
> >
> > Prof Farber  --
> >
> >  
> >
> > For many of the same reasons, I believe that using the ‘get around the paywall’ trick is less useful for an open 
> > society with a functioning fourth estate, than the alternatives of trying to find a way to help journalism work 
> > effectively…
> >
> >  
> >
> > My preferred option is Inkl.com, which like Blendle, provides micropayments to the publishers while giving readers 
> > access to a wide range of newspapers around the world…  but, uses the digital content rather than the print version 
> > of the stories and – more importantly for me in a world lacking diverse voices – has a feature called Dive Deeper, 
> > which tries to bring in multiple perspectives from a range of global news sources.
> >
> >  
> >
> > I believe there are others as well – I think the important thing is that, if you support the existence of the fourth 
> > estate, it’s important to help find a way to fund its ongoing capability!
> >
> >  
> >
> > --  Stephe
> >
> > From: Dave Farber [mailto:farber () gmail com] 
> > Sent: Tuesday, 25 April 2017 3:13 AM
> > To: ip <ip () listbox com>
> > Subject: [IP] Getting around paywalls ...
> >
> >  
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Begin forwarded message:
> >
> > From: Chuck McManis <chuck.mcmanis () gmail com>
> > Date: April 24, 2017 at 1:01:45 PM EDT
> > To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
> > Cc: ip <ip () listbox com>
> > Subject: Getting around paywalls ...
> >
> > Roger Bohn's recent post on monopoly power included this common bit of advice :
> >
> >  
> >
> > "Suggestion: If a newspaper is refusing to let you read an article, you can often get it by searching for it (on 
> > Google - irony alert, see one of the stories below), and visiting from the search result."
> >
> >  
> >
> > I am not picking on Roger, it is fairly common advice, but would like to point out some better solutions. Sites like 
> > blendle.com which will let you read (and pay for) single articles on the NY Times, Economist, WSJ, etc without 
> > having to subscribe to those publications. I have no association with Blendle other than as a satisfied customer. 
> > And unlike paywalled version of the articles, the articles on Blendle are scanned from the original publications and 
> > have no additional advertising or other distractions. Money is held in escrow until you buy permanent access to an 
> > article and doesn't evaporate if you don't use the service. There is a generous refund policy if you feel the .19 or 
> > .09 you payed to read an article wasn't worth it.
> >
> >  
> >
> > I understand that people enjoy reading quality journalism for free. However, that is not sustainable and available 
> > internet advertising options do not provide the revenue that print advertising once did. As a result, market forces 
> > are pushing paywalls harder and harder to the point where it will is becoming an existential choice for a 
> > publication to either enforce a hard paywall or cease operation. 
> >
> >  
> >
> > My issue with that is that while I'm happy to pay for an article out of the NY Times (for example) I do not like to 
> > pay for access to the NY Times for a month where I hardly read it. And that is where alternatives like Blendle come 
> > in. They allow a publication to make sustainable amounts of revenue on their articles, they align the publication's 
> > revenue side of the house with the readership (we won't                                   pay for bad articles) and 
> > editorial side.
> >
> >  
> >
> > I encourage your readership to create an account with Blendle and throw $5 or $10 into it and read the articles you 
> > want, guilt free, on these publications. See if it meets your needs and helps us move good journalism and 'real' 
> > news into a business model that works for the 21st century.
> >
> >  
> >
> > --Chuck
> >
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