Notice how by likening a paywall to the Maginot Line, the internet must take the role of Hitler's invading forces. I wonder if that was the author's deliberate implication.
In newspaper terms it's like having a paywall but allowing the full text of the story to appear via Google's cache.
Wikipedia says this is a myth:
> It is a myth however that the Maginot Line ended at the Belgian border and was easy to circumvent.[2] The fortifications were connected to the Belgian fortification system, of which the strongest point was Fort Eben-Emael.
[2] Mosier, J. The Blitzkrieg Myth: How Hitler and the Allies Misread the Strategic Realities of World War II, HarperCollins, 2004, pp. 2, 38.
The Paywalls are being built to try and keep out the hordes, it represents the same fear of the unknown that created the Maginot line.
If by "unknown" you refer to rival armies invading your country, yes, but it is still a very strange phrasing.
It wasn't build to protect from squirrels and tourists, you know...