Google limits free news access

In response to subscription-based news organizations’ complaints, Google News will only allow a user five free clicks per day for paid news content.

Google announced a new policy Wednesday that allows news publishers to limit the amount of subscription content that Internet users can access for free from Google News.

In the existing program called “First Click Free,” Google allows participating publishers who offer a subscription-based news service to display the first page of an article that a user accessed through Google News for no charge. If the user then clicks on another link on that page, the user will be taken to a page that requires a registration or subscription.

After discussions with publishers, Google updated the program Wednesday to limit the total number of free clicks for pay news services to five per day for each user. Previously, users could access an unlimited number of subscription-based articles from Google News.

Google also made it easier for news sites–such as those Murdoch controls–to opt-out of Google News.

Where they used to have to fill out an online form to opt-out of Google’s news aggregation site, publishers will soon have a means to opt-out or set other options automatically, using a small file placed on their sites.