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Bypass Paywalls: a browser extension to help bypass paywalls for selected sites

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Re: Bypass Paywalls: a browser extension to help bypass paywalls for selected sites

#201

Post by TAKEMYMONEY »

You're targeting non-deterministic classnames in some of these:

    paywall-container__1UgCE
That hash at the end of the name is subject to change, making the code brittle. Compounded by the fact that a lot of paywalled content is truncated at the server level now, CSS overrides aren't always enough. The days of "press Esc before the JS kicks in!" are quickly waning.

I thought this would check for the article on archive.org or something.

Re: Bypass Paywalls: a browser extension to help bypass paywalls for selected sites

#202

Post by picardythird »

rfd4sgmk8u wrote: post #172
picardythird wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just because there’s a technical workaround doesn’t make it not stealing. If I neglect to lock my car and my stuff gets stolen, it’s still stealing. I might have been able to prevent it had I locked the car, but it’s still stealing.

If a webserver sent me an exact copy of your car but encased in ice, and I used an ice pick to carve it out, you would still have your car, and i would have a copy of your car. That the web server wants to me buy a flame thrower to melt the ice is irrelivent. Stealing does not apply to digital goods. You cannot deprive anyone of something infinitely replicable. You can only prevent those that you do not deem worthy t…

So if I break in to Microsoft, stick a USB in their computers, and steal the source code for Windows, it's not stealing because it's just digital information that's infinitely reproducible? Keep in mind: nothing physical was stolen.

People lose their jobs because they are digital content creators and the attitude is that paying for intellectual property is uncool.

Re: Bypass Paywalls: a browser extension to help bypass paywalls for selected sites

#203

Post by Wowfunhappy »

Wolfenstein98k wrote: post #126

I know I'll get downvoted for this but I feel like this stuff is pretty close to theft. I can understand justifying ad-blocking, arguing that you don't want to see it. So even though you're depriving them of revenue while consuming the product funded by it, there's at least an argument that you're only controlling what you see. But using tricks to get access to something not available to you without paying? This seem…

I think you’re engaging in some cognitive dissonance yourself to justify ad-blocking. The situation really isn’t any different. The ads are what pay for the product, so if you purposefully block all the ads, you’re not paying for the content you’re reading.

It’s up to you whether to pay attention to the ads, but outright blocking them is exactly the same as blocking the “please subscribe” wall.

Re: Bypass Paywalls: a browser extension to help bypass paywalls for selected sites

#204

Post by dahpu »

cobbaut wrote: post #199
spondyl wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> “One thing that we have learned is that piracy is not a pricing issue. It’s a service issue,” explained Newell during his time on stage at the Washington Technology Industry Association's (WTIA) Tech NW conference. “The easiest way to stop piracy is not by putting antipiracy technology to work. It’s by giving those people a service that’s better than what they’re receiving from the pirates.” https://www.gamesradar.…

Sorry but this is not true. I canceled my NYTimes subscription online, in a less than two minute chat.

Why do you have to chat and interact with someone in the first place?

Re: Bypass Paywalls: a browser extension to help bypass paywalls for selected sites

#205

Post by LocalH »

picardythird wrote: post #143
theturtletalks wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure it crosses the line. Most of these websites have the text in the HTML, but hidden to the user. This is so Google can index and send traffic based on search. If the HTML is sent to the client, accessing it is not piracy.

Just because there’s a technical workaround doesn’t make it not stealing. If I neglect to lock my car and my stuff gets stolen, it’s still stealing. I might have been able to prevent it had I locked the car, but it’s still stealing.

Do you think that people should be required to view websites as delivered, without modifying them in any way? That would be the logical end of attempting to prevent this kind of "stealing".

If there is another term you'd like to use for "looks like theft, but the original owner loses nothing" then feel free. But it is not theft or stealing, those require also depriving the rightful owner of the stolen property.

If I could duplicate the exact contents of your car, would it still be "stealing" if I did so? Reminder that you would continue to be in possession of 100% of the contents of your car. Maybe with regards to any digital data on any duplicated devices, I could see a bit of the "stealing" logic, then again nothing was actually "stolen" from you if you still have 100% of your original property, but I now also have duplicates of that property.

Re: Bypass Paywalls: a browser extension to help bypass paywalls for selected sites

#206

Post by jmckib »

gxqoz wrote: post #117
jmckib wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Washington Post lets you cancel through their website without talking to anyone. It's also significantly cheaper than NYT last I checked. I'm a subscriber, and I think it's a pretty solid paper especially for national politics coverage.

I subscribed at one of their cheap rates last year and didn't find much in it unique from other sources I'm already subscribed to.

What other sources are you already subscribed to? I'm always looking for recommendations.

Re: Bypass Paywalls: a browser extension to help bypass paywalls for selected sites

#207

Post by bragr »

pedroma wrote: post #131
faridelnasire wrote: post #48

Maybe pick 1 or 2 newspapers you consider to be truthful to actually get a subscriptions for, besides using this addon. I get it, there are newspapers out there you really don't check out that often, and they have no free articles per month or "purchase this article", and paying 20 dollars for a subscription for 2 articles a month at 10 different newspapers is a little much. But the more people don't pay for news, th…

It seems like the current model isn't working too well. The more outlets clickbait the more they damage their brand. And people get a lot of news through Reddit and Twitter these days completely bypassing news outlets.

Where do you think the well informed people on Reddit and Twitter get their info? I'm being slightly facetious, and there's obviously independent reporting and direct witnesses to events online. But you take away the journalism organizations at the core of the system and then the influencers on twitter on reddit have nothing to inform their hot takes.

Re: Bypass Paywalls: a browser extension to help bypass paywalls for selected sites

#208

Post by Wolfenstein98k »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #203
Wolfenstein98k wrote: post #126

I know I'll get downvoted for this but I feel like this stuff is pretty close to theft. I can understand justifying ad-blocking, arguing that you don't want to see it. So even though you're depriving them of revenue while consuming the product funded by it, there's at least an argument that you're only controlling what you see. But using tricks to get access to something not available to you without paying? This seem…

I think you’re engaging in some cognitive dissonance yourself to justify ad-blocking. The situation really isn’t any different. The ads are what pay for the product, so if you purposefully block all the ads, you’re not paying for the content you’re reading. It’s up to you whether to pay attention to the ads, but outright blocking them is exactly the same as blocking the “please subscribe” wall.

Ad-blocking can be justified as the digital equivalent of averting your gaze, although I agree that's a bit tenuous as it's preventing the ad from rendering in the first place. It's marginal. But by analogy, it's like putting your TV on mute when the ads are playing - the producer made the show freely available expecting ad consumption.

But using a tool to get past a paywall is different. The show is not on TV, it is more like a rental without ads - and this tool is used to pick the lock to the rental store and then take all the rentals you want without paying.

I guess I agree that blocking the ads is worse than averting your gaze, actually. It prevents the producer ever getting revenue. But at least that's a risk they knowingly take with that funding model - paywall aversion is clearly not.

...yet!

Re: Bypass Paywalls: a browser extension to help bypass paywalls for selected sites

#209

Post by Wolfenstein98k »

sfe22 wrote: post #150
Barrin92 wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>but I feel like this stuff is pretty close to theft It is theft, plain and simple. Someone makes something, owns the property, they have the right to determine under what conditions they sell it. I always find it hilarious how people defend piracy with arguments about making products more user friendly/cheaper and so on. If you don't like something, don't buy it. If you're bypassing payment without the owners permis…

What did the publisher lose that he had before?

Well, the publisher paid people for their writing (or content), and then hosts it for revenue.

The publisher didn't pay them in order to give it away for free.

If you start using digital lockpicks to pick their digital lock, and consume their content without paying, they have lost the revenue haven't they?

(Cue "they're not entitled to revenue for intangible goods", and other libertarian arguments that are internally cohesive but not accepted by the public)

Re: Bypass Paywalls: a browser extension to help bypass paywalls for selected sites

#210

Post by makeworld »

cercatrova wrote: post #42

FYI use the clean version which removes Google analytics. It's also updated more frequently while the one in the link is almost a year old: https://gitlab.com/magnolia1234/bypass-paywalls-chrome-clean I use this, and it's great. I recommend using uBlock Origin as well to remove ads on these sites.

+1, this version is great and has always worked for me.
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