Linked: “An EZ-PASS for local news sites?”

via Scripting News: on the subject of paying per article read with an EZ-Pass like system

So why don’t they band together and do an E-Z PASS type thing. For $5 a month instead of 5 articles on each site, I get 100. The out-of-towner rate.

Pretty good idea. I’d join this as long as privacy was maintained. Envisioning it this way and let’s call the service “EZ-Read”

• I join EZ-Read and hand over my credit card information and pre-pay $25..let’s say the first month is free
• EZ-Read requires I install a Safari Extension which I login into my account via the extension and
• The Extension keeps an eye out for cases where I visit websites that are in the EZ-Read program
• Every time I visit a partner site like Sun-Times, The Herald, SFGate, NYTimes or even blogs like Daring Fireball to read an article over 500 words, a credit is used. Let’s say it’s 100 credits for $20
• Maybe the first 25 words are free and I have to click “use credit” to get the full story so it keeps me from using credits on articles I accidentally click
• In exchange for my patronage, I don’t get tracked by advertisers and I get an ad-free experience.
• EZ-Read extension puts an overlay over articles if I’ve reached the end of my credits and I can simply go to the website to buy more.

I’d join this service. Looks like Dave Winer would as well.

PS: If EZ-Read also aggregated all of the RSS feeds into one I can subscribe to, even better. It generates them more money because I’m clicking through to articles that take credits but it allows me to use RSS.