Liberate Articles — Abdul Wahab Basheer

Free Articles: Easy Access to Old Medium Material
The Liberate Articles extension was created to unlock user access to archived Medium articles for research and educational use. A lot of useful information and data are shared on Medium, but some of the articles are behind paywalls, limiting access. This extension provides a circumvention by re-routing users to an archived version of the article, making information accessible to everyone for free. Liberate Articles' main purpose is to promote fair use and scholarly research and not to bypass legitimate paywalls that compensate authors and publishers.

This add-on is fully compatible with Gmail and recognizes Medium article links within email messages. On a user's right-click on an article link and then choosing "Open in a new Tab", the add-on opens it automatically in an archival version at removepaywall.com. The add-on otherwise has no effect on other links and browsing activity, providing the optimal and non-disruptive user experience.

To ensure a smooth experience, Liberate Articles adopts a privacy-conscious strategy of being client-side only, not storing or harvesting any user data. The extension is lightweight, lean, and focused on a single mission. The origins of the content are Medium.com for the original articles, removepaywall.com for archived articles, and Icons8 for the browser extension icon. By making archived knowledge easily accessible, Liberate Articles promotes open learning and information sharing while respecting content creators' original work.