[ NNSquad ] Re: Previous story on DOJ/Telecom

[Lauren Weinstein <lauren@vortex.com>]

Several NNSquad readers have pointed out that the likely cause of the
full WSJ article being available via Google News, and only the excerpt
being seen via the same direct URL, is what I would call a "referrer
wall."

That is, assuming you are not using a referrer "eliminator" in your
browser, a URL referrer set appropriately to indicate that the source
was Google News silently triggers access to the entire WSJ article,
presumably as per WSJ policy.

I've seen this sort of arrangement in the past but didn't initially
associate it with this case.  I also suspect that in many of these
situations the full access is time-restricted and won't work (even with
a Google News referrer) for longer than some arbitrary period of time.

Without my taking sides on this one way or another, I would be
interested in the readership's opinions on the pros and cons of such
arrangements from a "neutrality" standpoint, especially in regards
to getting full access to articles (good) vis-a-vis user confusion and
possible perceived lack of operational transparency (bad).

Thanks.

--Lauren--
NNSquad Moderator