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Congoo to offer subscription content for free

Search site makes deals with Financial Times, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Boston Globe, among others.

Elinor Mills Former Staff Writer
Elinor Mills covers Internet security and privacy. She joined CNET News in 2005 after working as a foreign correspondent for Reuters in Portugal and writing for The Industry Standard, the IDG News Service and the Associated Press.
Elinor Mills

Search Web site Congoo.com was set to launch on Tuesday a free beta service that will let people search for and among articles in newspapers, magazines and other periodicals that typically charge for access. The Congoo NetPass downloadable toolbar works with Microsoft's Internet Explorer or the Firefox browser.

It lets users access premium content from participating publishers without having a subscription or having to fill out registration forms. Users are allowed access between four and 15 articles per month per publisher. Publishers include Financial Times, Institutional Investor, Morningstar, TheStreet.com, BusinessWire, PRNewswire, Adweek, Editor & Publisher, The Hollywood Reporter, The New Republic, Encyclopaedia Britannica Online, The Boston Globe, The Chicago Tribune, The Denver Post, The Philadelphia Inquirer and others.

Many public libraries also offer access to subscription databases, such as the San Francisco Public Library.