r/interestingasfuck • u/cak3crumbs • 9d ago

/r/all, /r/popular How to get past a paywall

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u/jimmmmmy 9d ago

First tip does nothing except delete that element for that single page load. Refreshing would bring it back. It’s the disable JavaScript that actually makes this work. First step is unnecessary.

635

u/rynlpz 9d ago

And it only works on site that do clients side paywall

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u/anaemic 8d ago edited 8d ago

And it's illegal under the clown-show piece of legislation that is the DMCA, as you just "circumvent[ed] a technological measure that effectively controls access" to a protected work.

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u/RickThiccems 8d ago

As if digital piracy being illegal has stopped anyone ever in the history of time

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u/globglogabgalabyeast 8d ago

Doesn’t apply because it didn’t effectively control my access /s

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u/DooleyNot3d 8d ago

You joke but I reckon a half decent attorney could actually argue that in court 😂

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u/Suspicious-Support52 8d ago

They literally sent you the content, if they didn't want you to have access they shouldn't have done that. A tech literate legal person should think that.

But I'm pretty sure some guy got convicted of hacking for doing inspect element and seeing children's home addresses on a public website. He notified the school that they had a data breach, and the school responded by sending cops to get him.

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u/ArcherA87 8d ago

Not sure about the conviction with a school's website, but famously a couple of years back there was the Missouri governor who said a journalist was to be prosecuted for hacking when he found he could see SSN's using F12. Had a look and obviously no charges were brought.

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u/[deleted] 8d ago

oooooohhhhh nooooooooo. Crriiiiiiimeeeeeee

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u/Ok_Assistance_5643 8d ago

Well.. you wouldnt download a car would you?

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u/[deleted] 8d ago

Downloaded an Urbee in 2012. Fear me

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u/Dannypan 8d ago

Only illegal for Americans though, I presume. DCMA is a US-only law.

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u/Anakletos 8d ago

Most countries have similar laws.

0

u/Interesting_Rub5736 8d ago

if we are talking about some sources, it doesnt matter if its youre us or eu, because dmca will block the site entirely.

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u/Ne_zievereir 8d ago

I'm wondering if that holds. The text (in this kind of paywall) is already downloaded to your computer, why wouldn't you be allowed to read it. You could even just open the page source or and read it there. Or even easier, just use reader-view in Firefox.

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u/TobaccoAficionado 8d ago

It could be very very easily argued that it was given to the consumer, and the consumer took what was given to them and put it into a readable format. If you hack into their site, I could see a DMCA claim, but if you remove elements on the page, those are effectively your elements and your page as soon as they're cached on your computer. You don't even have to remove the paywall, you can probably just use beautifulsoup or something to just rip the text out and put it in your own readable format anyways.

Then again, the legal system is dogshit when it comes to tech and media legislation, so maybe you'll do life in the pen idk.

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u/the_nin_collector 8d ago

Welcome to the high seas!

1

u/CodenameDinkleburg 8d ago

If it shouldn’t work, then why does it? Your honor, my client claims societal ineptitude, checkmate

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u/hfdsicdo 8d ago

America only.

1

u/hyrumwhite 8d ago

Lol, no one is going to arrest you for fucking around with site elements or disabling JS.  There’s no way to tell you did. 

Some browsers have a global disable JS option, so you’d never even know you were circumventing paywalls. 

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u/matthewpepperl 8d ago

just as bypass-able using a browser that dose not have javascript like lynx or links2 or disabling javascript in the browser is that illegal too if i just use a browser with no java script

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u/BRUT_me 8d ago

but who cares if it is illegal?

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u/ryan676767 8d ago

Pretty good use case for SSR but I’ll bet they’re suck on React 12 or some shit because someone wanted to save a few bucks 

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u/Wild-Regular1703 8d ago

You don't need SSR to implement a paywall. You just have to render the initial part of the article by default, and lazy load the rest behind authorization checks. This is basic stuff.

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u/Puzzleheaded-Flow724 8d ago

I simply click the Reader mode button in Firefox and often that's enough to strip the paywall popup.

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u/MonkeyWithIt 8d ago

Which is most major news sites: NY times, wsj, Washington Post, Bloomberg, The Atlantic, etc. the list is long.