The NYT is executing a decade-long return to payment-based reporting. The early parts include easy-to-circumvent paywalls so that they can have some price discrimination [1] while also setting the social norms that payment is expected for web content. The later stages will likely include more rigid restrictions on content -- but that will only fly once "pay to read" is something people expect from expert content on the web, rather than are surprised by.
I don't know what the NYT was thinking when they developed such an easily circumventable paywall.