Despite Paywall, New York Times Readers Spot Holes to Read for Free

March 30, 2011— -- Don't want to pay for content hidden behind the New York Times' recently-raised paywall? Hopping over it may be easier than you think.

Since the Times' announcement two weeks ago that it would start charging for access to its site, programmers, readers and bloggers have made a sport of finding the holes in the so-called Grey Lady's digital wall, spreading their tactics far and wide. Some have burrowed in with lines of code, others are finding free access just by switching Web browsers.

While critics say the gaps highlight flaws in the newspapers' new business model, the Times says the holes are deliberate and meant to encourage openness across the Internet.

In announcing the digital subscription plan that went live Monday, the Times said readers could still view 20 articles every four weeks for free, including slideshows, videos and other features.

After 20 articles, the charge ranges from $15 to $35 every four weeks, depending on whether readers want to access the content from just the Web or other mobile devices as well.

Home delivery subscribers get all access for no extra charge and the Times revealed Monday that Kindle subscribers will also get free access to Web content with their $20 monthly subscription.

Readers who reach the Times through blogs and links from social media sites, like Facebook and Twitter, can access unlimited articles, even if they have reached their monthly limit, the paper said. And those who come in through search engines, like Google, Bing and Yahoo, get five extra stories per day.

But industry watchers say those small cracks in the Times' wall are really just the beginning.

"The bottom line is anyone who wants to get through this paywall can do it as easily as tweeting themselves a link to whatever they want to read," said Danny Sullivan, editor-in-chief of the popular tech blog Search Engine Land.

Soon after the Times erected its barrier, Sullivan started experimenting with different Web browsers to see how easy it would be for a non-subscriber to read more than the allotted 20 stories a month.

Just changing Web browsers gives readers an additional 20 stories each month, he said, and that's not including the extra five stories per day, per search engine. From his testing, he also found that the Times does not block readers from entering the site from the search engines Ask or Blekko.