Read the ‘New York Times’ for free

Will Brinson

Screen shot 2011 03 17 at 9.17.25 PM 309x194 Read the New York Times for freeSo, the New York Times will go behind a paywall on March 28; one caveat is that anyone can read up to 20 articles a month. There’s a really lengthy argument here about whether or not choosing to bail on the advertising industry in the hopes that content will supremely win out is a smart thing but that’s for another day.

For now, how about we do the evil thing, twist the shiv a little deeper into the newspaper industry’s bloated liver and tell you how to read it for free?

It doesn’t require a whole lot of fancy maneuvering to get the free content, since the Times announced themselves that anyone coming via Facebook or Twitter will keep reading even if they’ve hit their max of 20 articles, and certain search engines will allow readers to continue along their path towards the content.

So, with that in mind, you have a couple of options.

1) Follow @FreeNYTimes. It’s a Twitter feed with all the content from the Times with the obvious point being that anyone getting there is coming from Twitter and thereby getting utilizing a very-easy-to-get-around loophole. Of course, following that means you’re probably going to get pummeled by NYT articles on Twitter, since they write a lot. So …

2) Just append a Twitter referral code on the backend of the link you’re going to. At some point, the tech wiz people up in the Big Apple will shut this down (one would hope) but based on the speed at which the newspaper industry operates, you’ve got — give or take — about 12 years to keep throwing this code (?smid=tw-nytimesfashion&seid=auto) on URLs. Or this one (?smid=tw-nytimesmovies&seid=auto). Or, if you’re really freaking morbid, this one (?smid=tw-nytimesobituary&seid=auto).

Of course, adding stuff to links is a pain, so there’s always …

3) Facebook and Twitter feeds. If you really, really love a particular section of the Times, just create a Twitter feed for yourself. Like, say, “@BrinsonNYTSports.” Or something less personalized so eventually you won’t look like an ass when someone sees how cheap you are. Add the RSS feed for your particular section — they’ve got a pile of them! — to a Twitterfeed account that runs through that particular Twitter account, and then follow/click away.

The alternate to all of this, of course, is to pay for the Times content and/or don’t read more than 20 articles. My mother and the future Mrs. Brinson will probably hate me for this article (one will think I’m being dishonest, while the other will just consider me a book-burner), but that doesn’t mean I’m going to use my own knowledge.

As far as you know, mom.

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