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Do you remember actual newsstands?

I do. I remember when the newspaper was 10¢.

The guy working the stand didn't let you stand in front of it and read all the headlines in every page of every newspaper and magazine for free.

"I'm only reading the headlines" would get you a slap upside the head.

Quite the contrary: the news stands would have the front page displayed quite prominently precisely so that you could read the headlines of the main stories to attract the interest of passerbys: https://p.turbosquid.com/ts-thumb/0m/ePJxnz/tlmgVado/news_st...

If outlets don't want the headlines scraped and displayed, then they're free to modify their `robots.txt` file accordingly. But they don't because they're well aware that this would reduce, not improve, their bottom line.

I did this all the time and I don't remember getting slapped.