Following in the footsteps of the Times, the Wall Street Journal now offers back-door access to its $79-per-year subscription content for those smart enough to know the tricks. According to Salon, they are: search for the article on Google News and click through from there (only works on some stories), or install a plugin for Web browser Firefox that lets your computer pretend it was referred to WSJ.com from digg.com or news.google.com. The first trick, at least seems to work in a quick test on this article.

For years you could play similar tricks on the Times, bypassing registration and even archive fees by appending a special partner code to the end of the nytimes.com Web address. The Times was trying to have its traffic and charge for it, too, in both money and registration time. Then the paper just gave up and offered everything for free, as News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch will eventually do with the Journal's site. But give the man time, he's still figuring this whole internet thing out. [Salon]