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Is the NYT Fingerprinting iOS devices to enforce their paywall?

12 points by wdr1 ↗ HN
Once you read 5 articles/month the NYT begins to paywall its content. Once blocked, a common workaround used to be opening your browser in incognito/private mode. As cookies aren't carried over, the site believe it's your first article & you can proceed.

That no longer works on Safari on iOS. Once you are blocked in "Non-Private" mode, you are also blocked in Private mode.

I tried on two phones to the same effect. (Note: the behavior on OS X Safari is different. You can proceed as expected.)

I'm not really concerned about reading the content. Long story short, I actually have a subscription, just get lazy about signing in.

My curiosity is connecting a session in Private & Non-Private browser tabs.

I'm aware of browser fingerprinting. I'd be surprised if the NYT was using it this way, but maybe I'm wrong?

7 comments

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duxup
If on the same iOS device you download and try Chrome do you hit the wall?

I'd be tempted to try that.

Change networks (from one wifi network to another, to cellular) and etc.

fencepost
This may be feasible because all browsers on iOS are required to use Apple's rendering engine. A different browser may make a difference, but don't be surprised if it doesn't.
closeparen
Is there a difference between WiFi and cellular data? Some carriers helpfully annotate their users' HTTP requests with unique identifiers.
richerlariviere
I guess that's why we want to use https? So the content cannot be altered easily?
ezekg
Have you tried using a VPN and going through a different IP? Maybe they use multiple factors to "fingerprint."
kentbrew
At times like these the Brave browser is your very best friend.
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