[ian-bateman]

Shameless plug (Founder here), but I’d highly recommend checking out [redacted] as an alternative!

We work on a number of major publications that 12ft does not, including NYT, WSJ, and several others. We have a full list of supported publications here: [link redacted]

[kazinator]

Stopping the page load halfway through defeats the NYT paywall, last I remember. Either that or switching to Firefox reader mode, or combination of both.

Edit: Just retested. Went to nytimes.com, clicked on a story, got the paywall. Turned on FF reader mode and reloaded. Blam, there is the whole article.

This is so very easy to do correctly in the back end, such that without an authenticated session from a paying user, the full content simply does not leave the server.

I think they are leaving it easily bypassable on purpose. They know that some "piracy" is beneficial, like it is in music. The paywall has to have finely tuneed "difficulty dial", such that they get revenue, without throttling the exposure (which will negatively act on the same revenue).

A "Fort Knox" paywall is probably not revenue-maximizing, that is to say.

[m0lecules]

what exactly is the endgame with a borderline illegal, obviously non-monetizable service like this?

edit: my mistake - i see you're building a local client, not a remote cache. still, i wonder how you see this playing out in the future.

[ian-bateman]

> i wonder how you see this playing out in the future

In the near future, we're planning to expand into more general adblocking; we're currently focused on growth & there's still a lot of internal discussion happening, but we're most seriously considering a Spotify-style or micropayments model... very early days though - we just officially launched last week!

[sfe22]

But you advertise free forever?

[Gys]

Look at the developments of Blendle.com.

They had a micro payment system but could not get it to work? Seems only Dutch now, but were active in the US as well, if I remember correctly.

[int_19h]

I've been using Blendle in US for many years now, and it still works fine for me, with the same microtransaction framework as always.

[Gys]

Maybe they filter for countries, because I do not see that. But I found this link that also works from Europe: https://launch.blendle.com/

[watermelon0]

It's not immediately clear from the page, but this app performs MITM on your local machine, requires sudo, and also updates automatically using super user privileges.

I don't really like that Apple has such privileges on my machine, but trusting paywall blocker with them seems absurd.

[ian-bateman]

That's all true - we mention these directly on our FAQ ([redacted]) -- many are issues we plan to address as soon as possible -- the application 100% works in terms of functionality, but is definitely still under heavy development!

[smsm42]

> Note that the first time you run Incoggo, you will need to enter your computer password.

That's a very understated way to say "we run stuff on your computer that require root privileges". It is explained later but there's no such thing as too many warnings about running 3rd party code under root on my computer.

> If you’re a very security-minded individual (or you use your computer for very sensitive tasks),

Who doesn't? Like, accessing my bank account? Accessing my email, where my bank account would sent 2FA/password reset? Uploading my ID photo to one of the dozens sites now that require that? I'm not sure we know each other well enough so I'd entrust you access to all that. Not even if that allows me to read Vanity Fair. I guess I'm one of those "very" individuals?

> Incoggo adds a file to your system’s sudoers.d folder that whitelists specific commands from requiring a sudo password to perform

Erm, does that mean any other tool would be free to use those commands under root now? Probably not the best idea.

> Incoggo also installs a trusted root certificate in your system keystore

Do I understand right that this gives it full untraceable MITM capability to any site I visit? I remember the government of Kazakhstan tried to do that to their citizens. They did it in a stupid way. They should have promised all citizens free access to Wall Street Journal.

> If these are show-stopper issues for you

Unfortunately, they kind of are.

[zerof1l]

I don't feel comfortable installing your application on the desktop. Why it should be a desktop app? What exactly is it doing and why can't it be just an extension for the browser? There is this browser extension called Bypass Paywalls by magnolia1234. Looks like I'm sticking with it for now.

[hazza_n_dazza]

hey thats cool! but it's APPWALLED!