The News of the World is working on new security measures to protect its content after introducing a paywall around the site today.

As Journalism.co.uk reported this morning, the site appeared to have put up its subscription barrier last night, with access now costing £1 for 24 hours or £1.99 for four weeks. Those who register will be given £2 of credit to use as a free trial.

Speaking on a live web-chat on the day of the launch, Rachel Richardson, digital editor, said there were already measures in place to stop other sites from breaching copyright, but added that more were being "worked on".

She refused to give any more details as to what these measures would be, but said News of the World's lawyers would also be following up on "serial offenders".

"We've always taken copyright breaches seriously, so we are continuing to do that," she added.

During the discussion she answered questions about the site's decision to go behind a paywall, saying that she believed users would pay for its content.

"The reason we think we will attract customers is because our stories, videos and pictures are exclusive. We regularly break stories which set the world's news agenda and we will be the only place where you can get the full story".

The majority of the site's content will be published on a Sunday, she added, although exclusive stories will be updated as they develop through the week.

"A lot of our content is timeless. Fabulous is a great example of this, so we're confident our site will be appealing mid-week without constant updates.

"...We have a constant demand for our exclusive material. We get dozens of calls every day from other media organistations who want to syndicate our video and pictures. Our content has value and is popular with our readers any day of the week."

Design

Richardson said the tabloid carried out a number of focus groups with existing site users and non-users, testing each stage of development.

This resulted in features such as an ePaper version which enables web users to flick through the print version of the paper online.

"One of the findings from our extensive research was that customers wanted to see the print edition, so they didn't miss anything. We think it'll be a success and customers will feel they get good value for their money," Richardson said.