No Linking To Japanese Newspaper Without Permission

stovicek writes with this excerpt from Ars Technica about the Japanese newspaper Nihon Keizai Shimbun, or Nikkei (English language site, so far apparently unaffected): "Nikkei has taken efforts to preserve its paywall to absurd new levels: anyone wanting to link to the site must submit a formal application. [...] The New York Times, which reported on the new policy on Thursday, notes that the newspaper market in Japan is radically different from that in the US. Although some smaller outlets are experimenting with new ways of reaching readers, most papers require subscriptions to access online content, and the barriers have kept circulation of print editions quite high compared to the US. Nikkei management appears worried that links could provide secret passages to content that should be safely behind the paywall, and this fear has led to the new approval policy."

Comments

Let's write out the pseudocode...

[LostCluster]

If (RefererURL is not OurURL) or (ReferURL is Authorized) then {show denialpage;} else {show content;}

It's their site and they can do it if they want to... paywall nets cash but costs views and ad yen. Let's see where this ends up.

The difference is quality

[BadAnalogyGuy]

I remember when I was willing to shell out a few bucks a year for a subscription to the Wall Street Journal, our American business paper. And then Rupert Murdoch bought it and turned it into Pravda with better paper.

Now, I'm not saying that the Japanese Nikkei is any better (yes, I am), but you have to understand that in Japan there is a strict code of honor that everyone implicitly abides by. This is why there is so little petty crime and violence there compared to the U.S. It's also why people are willing to pay for music rather than download it. The penalty for disobedience and "going your own way" is social ostracization.

So it makes sense in the Japanese worldview to demand a virtual face-to-face meeting in order to link to information and stories. The linker is a supplicant who must throw himself at the feet of the information "daimyo". To do any less would shame both the supplicant and the lord.

I'm not saying it's a good thing, but it's how it is over there. Over here, we're free to say stuff like "FIX YOUR FUCKING WEBSITE, YOU IDIOTS! IT'S BEEN BROKEN FOR HOURS!"

Re:The difference is quality

[countertrolling]

All good in meatspace. But now they have to deal with the whole world that doesn't necessarily fit their mold. Best that they keep their damn paper off the net and just email a copy to their subscribers.

Re:The difference is quality

[BadAnalogyGuy]

The Yakuza is part and parcel of that code. It isn't an aberration at all. It is a product of the same culture that brings you pedophilia dressed up cartoon outfits, hugely xenophobic attitudes towards other races, hivemind-like business practices, a deep insecurity of own culture, the equating of product defects with moral defects, institutionalized misogyny, and widespread depression among males.

It's a fucked up, oppressive culture that creates many terrible things, but at the same time many beautiful things. You can't separate the Yakuza from Japanese culture, just as you can't separate the geisha or sushi or cherry blossoms or Honda cars from it.

Re:The difference is quality

[Mashiki]

Nikkei is by and far better then most NA papers. But saying that there's little to no petty crime isn't being true, there's plenty of it. The old centralist code is going poof, as by seen by the current generation of college and grade-schoolers. Want a heavy dose of honor-bound-things that people abide by Korea is where it's at. Everything else is turn your eye away from it, break the rules there's ways around it. Petty crime for the most part I agree, but I figure it has to do with the police not taking too kind a turn at people committing the crimes. The Japanese judicial system is very harsh on people who break the laws.

Re:The difference is quality

[Arancaytar]

The mafia has a strict code of honor, too.

It's one reason why "MAFIAA" is kind of a misnomer for the music industry.

Re:The difference is quality

[shutdown -p now]

Even our immigration policies are more open than our neighbors (Canada in particular).

This is just false. As a foreigner looking for immigration options, I can assure you that Canada is much easier and friendlier to a skilled immigrant than US. For one thing, it does not have country quotas!

Wait just a minute

[Superdarion]

There are certain forums (free as in beer in many cases) that require registration to even read. If you reach one of their pages thru a link, you are redirected to a "You have to register to see this" page.

I'm talking about free forums using a template in many cases.

So this newspaper in Japan that is being paid cannot do the same? Is their IT department full of idiotic monkeys in crack so that they can't implement a simple check to see if the user is logged in (thus paying) or not?

Re:Not confident about security

[drolli]

I work in a Japanese company. And i understand fully why they dont thrust their security. The main problem is that if the (incompetent) admins explains that something is in that way, then the boss will believe him.

Absurdity

[izomiac]

So, if the address of their website cannot be published without a fee, the what of their physical address and phone number? Do students and scholars also need to pay to cite them in a paper?

Stuff like this makes me wish the Referrer and User-agent HTTP headers were disabled by default. It seems like they have zero benefit for users, and are merely used as stupidly weak forms of access control.

Re:Can't begin to compare

[MidnightBrewer]

Density doesn't necessarily drive popularity. However, Japan is unique in its group mindset, where a lot of people are happy to do things just because everyone else does.

Also, Japanese are strongly traditional and have a cultural appreciation for things like newspapers. They like to share, for one; they can clip articles; and a paper is viewed as more economical and frugal (doesn't require electricity).