The Ethics and Consequences of Dodging Paywalls

"Some paywalls are so weak that those of us who adhere to high privacy standards online don't even realise they're there."

Photo by Dima Pechurin on Unsplash

It's a really interesting question. Is dodging an online paywall worse than blocking ads? What are the potential consequences when we bypass paywalls and access "premium" content without compensating the provider? If publishers tell us we must pay to read their content, do the technical means by which we evade their 'digital checkout' even matter? Is bypassing paywalls akin to stealing books - something we can do, but know is wrong? That really depends on how "paywalled" the content is.

There are different strengths of paywalling. Some paywalls are rigid lockouts that genuinely do solely let in those who pay. Others essentially employ a sucker-gate, which only monetises the visitors who don't realise they have a choice. The site may, for example, let you in for free if you're hitting a link on Twitter or Facebook, but not if you're responding to an email nudge from an existing subscriber. Let you in for free if you're using this browser setup, but not that one.

Apply a Custom Light Mode To All of Nitter - No Cookies or Extensions

"There's a neat hack in Firefox and other Firefox-based browsers, which allows you to re-skin all Nitter instances with a light mode in one go. No cookies, no extensions, no dependency on specific instances."

We all love browsing and searching Twitter without having to submit to the platform's scourge of JavaScript and microtracking, right? Well, if you do, and you're already using Nitter for that purpose, I've got a quick and simple DIY hack which can help make Nitter look a little more inviting to fans of Twitter's default light mode.

WHAT IS NITTER?

Nitter is a decentralised front end for Twitter, which delivers all available logged-out Twitter content through a proxy, providing an escape from Twitter's increasingly oppressive monitoring tools.

How To Create Twitter Follow Feeds Without Logging In

"This is the option that's a bit like reading the contents of people's notifications inbox."

Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

Just below, there's a Feed-Builder app, which enables you to create Twitter feeds without logging in or having an account.

So that the app is easily accessible near the top of the page, I've placed the full details beneath it. Here's the quick guide. Please see below the app for more...

TWITTER FEED BUILDER

To compile a feed, enter a username of your choice. Hit "Add Another" each time you want to enter an additional account. You can enter up to 12 usernames. Once you have your username list, move down to the "FEED TYPE" section, and hit the button of your choice. You can then bookmark the feed to see updates anytime you wish.

Twitter Detective MasterHack: How To Retrospectively Find A User ID Number

An introduction to the wonderful world of advanced Twitter forensics.

Photo by Yucel Moran on Unsplash

I wrote in my Old Usernames article about the importance of Twitter's User ID in keeping tabs on slippery people's behaviour. The User ID is a unique account identifier which remains the same however many times the user changes his or her @username. If you know the User ID, you will always be able to find a given Twitter profile (or at least find what's happened to it) via its numerical URL.

But what happens if you discover that, say, a group of account @usernames have been switched, and you need to actually prove that the switch has taken place? This can happen with account networks when they try to cloak their origins. And it became important recently when the lead profile in a network of raving political activist accounts rebranded as the main promo feed for an alternative social media platform, claiming to be politically impartial. I know, you couldn't make it up, could you?

"What happened to that original @google account? Has it been repurposed? Let's find out..."

I'm not going to publicise the account in question, but it turned out to have gone through at least six @usernames, and it was originally a promo feed for a pitifully unprofessional "travel site". I wanted, however, to be 100% sure that my old username tracking investigation was entirely accurate. Before I presented the info to anyone else, I needed to be right. And to be absolutely certain, I needed to retrospectively access the User IDs of accounts in the network - as they applied in the past. That would confirm beyond doubt that the usernames had been switched. But how would I get that confirmation?...