Somehow I wasn’t aware about that interesting development. Let’s talk about 402 HTTP response code.
I have cook.md web-site where users can convert recipes from other sites into Cooklang format. And someone complained that import from Serious Eats doesn’t work.
The server returned HTTP 402. Had to google what that even is. "Payment Required." Bro what
Seems like that status code has been sitting there doing nothing since like 1999. And now someone turned it on.
So apparently Cloudflare decided the internet needs a toll booth now. They teamed up with Coinbase and built this thing called x402 where your browser has to pay stablecoins just to load a webpage. Like actual crypto. To read a chicken tikka masala recipe.
Remember when the internet was about sharing information? Now it's: bot detected → pay $0.003 in USDC on the Base blockchain → here's your casserole recipe.
They sat on this 402 code for 26 years waiting for the right moment and apparently the right moment is "make everything cost money"
First it was paywalls. Then cookie banners. Then cloudflare captchas. Now your recipe clipper needs a crypto wallet.