





Frustrated by the idea of paying for what was once free, some New York Times readers have devised widely publicized methods for subverting its newly erected paywall. Their efforts, it turns out, may have been for naught.

While testing out the paywall Monday afternoon, Mashable readers Dmitry Beniaminov and Yuri Victor pointed out that it's breathtakingly easy to subvert the paywall. Readers need only remove “?gwh=numbers” from the URL. They can also clear their browser caches, or switch browsers as soon as they see the subscription prompt. All three of these simple fixes will let them continue reading.

We were already aware that the Times doesn't want to make it difficult for readers who want to access its content to be able to do so without paying — in addition to 20 free articles per month, readers can view 25 free articles per day through search, and an unlimited number via blogs and social networks. But we weren't aware the Times wanted to make it quite that easy. Especially if, as rumors suggest, the Times paid $40 million to erect its paywall in the first place.