Chrome 76 Help Users Enjoy More Free Content, But That Didn't Last Long

The newest version of Google Chrome has been released, and there is a variety of little features in this new version, or version 76, that will give you a better browsing experience. The changes include a fresh install button for progressive web apps appearing in the address bar, a new “dark mode” style, and default Flash block in the browser.

Chrome’s incognito mode has also been repaired to better prevent sites from knowing you're accessing their content via the browser. With the changes in version 76, it’ll be harder to block your shenanigans; however, so far, some intelligent websites have made changes to their setups in order to prevent users from accessing their free content easily. This is a thing that websites should do.

The way Google made it harder for websites to detect Chrome's incognito mode

As we've learned, Chrome 76 addresses the small loophole used by many websites to identify whether users were using the incognito mode or not. The only thing these sites had to do is to check their ability to use the FileSystem API of Chrome. As the previous version’s incognito mode wasn't able to do this, sites could find out what users are doing and make corresponding responses. Take The New York Times for example. Through the use of a unique overlay in the articles, the paper could stop users from gaining access to content without paying a fee. This overlay used the trick shown in the image below.

A unique flag, which is “FileSystem API in Incognito” in users’ browser, has been enabled by Chrome by default to prevent websites from knowing whether users are using Incognito mode or not. However, this change doesn’t mean that users can gain access to the content they like without paying a fee. Websites like The New York Times might be unable to stop users from accessing a free article, but it’s certain that they can prevent them from the rest.

The way websites fight back against Chrome’s incognito mode

Don’t criticize the New York Times for this, as it’s only one of many websites that do the same thing. The Times will now prevent you from reading other articles by using a “register to read” overlay after you’ve already used the incognito mode to access two consecutive articles. This overlay will keep showing up if you continue to use another tab to view more items.

The same thing happened on The Washington Post if you try to read over three free articles, while the limit for Medium is two. Your greediness will result in your being locked out even when Chrome has made many changes to make it trickier for websites to detect your incognito mode.

The workaround for incognito mode will be very annoying

With this workaround, you can receive a small amount of free content that you really need; however, it’s not right for you to just taking advantage of free content without complying with the rules of the site, opening a new account, or making a payment for the site’s service. But in the interests of fairness, this counter can be reset for any site in the case you shut down incognito mode completely and open it one more time.

Stealing content is absolutely wrong. And it's good that many publishing websites are paying more and more attention to find a solution to content theft.

The present system with one (or two) free items in each session is a fair method to solve the situation that seems impossible. This method not only allows users to view content but also prevents people from taking advantage of their incognito mode. And if you are determined to find a way to view content on the Internet without making a payment, you can interrupt your reading, shut down your browser, open your browser again, load the site, and choose the article you want. But soon this method will become very old.

What is another method that will be less annoying? Each month, you can make a payment that is only worth a cup of coffee to read anything you like. Give it a try, and only when you’re using your friend’s computer and it’s impossible for you to recall your login details for your favorite publishing website, you can use incognito mode.