The problem

Starting on March 28, most  NYTimes.com articles will be available to paying customers only. According to the FAQ, everyone will be able to read articles if they click-through from Facebook, Twitter, or a blog. Here is the exact wording:

Can I still access NYTimes.com articles through Facebook, Twitter, search engines or my blog?

Yes. We encourage links from Facebook, Twitter, search engines, blogs and social media. When you visit NYTimes.com through a link from one of these channels, that article (or video, slide show, etc.) will count toward your monthly limit of 20 free articles, but you will still be able to view it even if you’ve already read your 20 free articles.

(Source)

I don’t envy the New York Times right now, because implementing the new policy will be difficult. The simplest method of detecting Facebook click-throughs is to check HTTP referrers. That is also the weakest algorithm, because spoofing HTTP referrers is easy. Referrer spoofing wont be limited to geeks either – a small Firefox extension could enable the masses.

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