A friend of mine is a journalist, normally he writes all kinds of interesting stuff about motorcycles, cars, and e-mobile devices of all kinds.
On his blog he linked to an article which he published on Heise Online, a big German computer magazine publisher. And these ask for more before they let you enter:
Last time I looked, they allow more or less the half world to track you with their cross-site cookies and such – that’s why I called this screenshot “Paywall” here. You pay with your data – and this should be forbidden.
Same goes for Spiegel Online, Zeit, and some other very good magazines. Sorry guys, the price is too high. And having to pay to be protected from that spamming business is morally questionable to say the least.
k, I’m out. You lost one reader.
P.S.: just wanted to have a look if their new c’t magazine is out, and what’s in it – but even that is covered by their stupid paywall. So you *definitely* lost one reader, guys. Not the smartest way of doing business, don’t you agree? Keep your crap and your cookies for yourselves… 👎