In case you missed the news, internet cables serving the Middle East have had a rough week, with anywhere up to five major cables being cut over the last week.

CrunchGear has been following the whole story, but we’ve not covered it until now because internet cables being cut isn’t as an irregular occurrence as you might think. Many of the companies behind these cables are essentially lazy, and simply drop them on the ocean floor, where ships can drop anchor and take them out at random. Five (or possibly less) cables were cut resulting in major outages in Iran (possibly the whole country, but possibly not) and other Middle Eastern countries. The cable cuts have resulted in more conspiracy theories than a Ron Paul meetup. The Economist has more on the theories.

What perked our interest was an article Wednesday from the Wall Street Journal covering the story that included the very funky image top right. Yes, that’s a Shark with laser beams on its head. There was much discussion about the Wall Street Journals editorial credibility post News Corp, and finally we are seeing the results. Personally I don’t mind the change that much, sharks with laser beams on their heads makes for a more lively and creative Wall Street Journal, but I’m betting I’m might be in the minority with that conclusion. What do you think?

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Ever since the rear-guard at the Wall Street Journal won the battle to keep its news pages behind its subscription wall (although, its opinion pages are now free), they have been cracking down especially hard on anyone trying to breach that wall—even if those people happen to be paying subscribers. In what appears to be an attempt to discourage freeloaders, the WSJ.com is locking out anyone from its site when it detects more than one simultaneous log-in on the same account. But innocent, rule-abiding subscribers who may be using multiple computers, or doing nothing wrong other than forgetting to log out of their accounts, are being shut out as well (see email below).

That is no way to treat your customers. In fact, it shows an utter disdain for how normal people actually use the Web. But it is an understandable, and classic, reaction. Incumbent executives always try to fend off inevitable disruption by blindly protecting their current sources of revenues. I liked Rupert Murdoch’s original idea of tearing down the entire subscription wall much better.

Here is the e-mail I received from a paying online subscriber, describing his ordeal with the WSJ.com and a screen shot of what he saw when he was in breach of the multiple login rule.  Hopefully, this is an isolated case. Otherwise, the WSJ.com could have a reader revolt on its hands of its own making. (If anyone else has experienced the same thing, please share in comments).

I’ve been a paying subscriber of the Wall Street Journal online since 1995.
About two weeks ago they made a change so that they allow only one
login per account at a time and closing a browser isn’t sufficient,
you have to manually logout. If you forget and try to access the site
from another browser or machine, they lock your account and make you
call in to get it reset.

As one who uses many computers and browsers, this is a major change
and hassle. They don’t even let you get to the free version without
clearing cookies if your account is locked; you just get a nasty
message.

Furthermore, the unlock process requires long-wait times on the phone and
answering lots of questions. I tried email, but no response after 24 hours.
I’ve been through this twice now and they insist that they will continue this
policy to prevent subscription sharing.

Given general trends and that there was recent talk of them going free
and 100% ad-supported, this feels quite draconian. I fully appreciate
their desire to prevent people from stealing their service, but they
are actually preventing paying subscribers from easily using the service.
Also, there are better technology solutions to the problem.

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News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch has said that the Wall Street Journal online will retain a paid subscription model, despite months of speculation that the site would go completely free.

Although the full details of the plan are not clear, Murdoch said that much more of the site would be offered for free, however “the really special things will still be a subscription service, and, sorry to tell you, probably more expensive.”

The decision bucks the recent trend of other subscription services being dropped as online advertising revenue offered a viable economic alternative to paid subscriptions, the biggest switcher being the New York Times in September 2007.

(via WSJ)

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