2001jan22. Mail.
dear mr. *,
thank you for access to your new york times account. in return for your kind generosity, i offer you patent #6004596 [ image].
wally
I am certainly not the first person to figure out the account bypass; I do recall someone mentioning it months ago. But earlier, aggravation just prompted me to enter “*/*.” It didn’t work, but “*/*” did. Good enough. I’m sure there are other ones – maybe “hello/world,” “dumb/dumber,” “screw/you,” “thenewyorktimes/canblowmeandanyoneelsewithinaradiusoftwomiles” etc. Try them all!
The patent is astounding. Earlier today I was telling someone that there is nothing new under the sun, that we are going through a “lull” period in technology, in the field of patentable inventions. I have been proven wrong once again.