I didn't say "Paywalls break the web", I have no problem with paywalls, I have a problem with the way The Economist is using URLs.
URLs are the standard for accessing web documents. A URL is a universal identifier. The referrer is not part of a URL. The Economist's use of URLs is breaking the web.
Well consider this - A google user finds a link, doesn't realize there is a paywall and shares the link with the rest of the web. Now the rest of the web has to go through google to get to the link. That sounds broken to me.
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"Paywalls break the web" is a rather strong claim.
I didn't say "Paywalls break the web", I have no problem with paywalls, I have a problem with the way The Economist is using URLs.
URLs are the standard for accessing web documents. A URL is a universal identifier. The referrer is not part of a URL. The Economist's use of URLs is breaking the web.
http://url.spec.whatwg.org/#urls
Well consider this - A google user finds a link, doesn't realize there is a paywall and shares the link with the rest of the web. Now the rest of the web has to go through google to get to the link. That sounds broken to me.
sounds like it works out in google's favor though...