 Many
print entities--newspapers, magazines and professional journals--require
readers who use their satellite Internet sites to register personal
information before viewing their content. Various media outlets say
they can't make money unless they can prove to advertisers who their
readers are.
However, anecdotal evidence suggests readers are annoyed with the
registration process. Some enter bogus information, while others
are looking for ways to bypass the registration roadblocks. That's
where BugMeNot.com comes in. Less than a year old, this Australian-based
Web site creates login names and passwords for sites that require
registration information, a boon to privacy and anti-spam advocates.
The site's home page claims some 15,000 Web sites that have been
unlocked to news junkies.
Bugmenot.com
may be the most popular site people use to skip the registration/e-mail
process, but there are others that can do the same thing albeit
a bit differently:
- Mailinator
allows users to create e-mail addresses specifically used for
content providers that require registration information but not
use their private e-mail address.
- Spamgourmet works
in much the same way as Mailinator except that users have to set
up an account that generates bogus e-mail addresses.
- The New
York Times link generator lets bloggers post links to articles
so that people don't have to log in.
Although these sites have grown very popular among the Internet
savvy, some content providers don't believe their registration policies
are that invasive, or just plain nosy. For example, the Los Angeles
Times and Knight Ridder newspaper chains began requiring online
registrations to learn more about their readers and to generate
more advertsing revenue for the site.
Both companies noticed a downturn in Internet traffic due to forced
logins that eventually returned.
The other advantage content providers used for justifying setting
up an account: Regular users can personalize their news and weather
information, particularly useful for people who live on the other
side of the world, far away from their home towns.
The nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation that protects the
right of online users supports the use of such workarounds. In fact,
a senior attorney for the foundation believes sites like BugMeNot
or Mailinator probably won't be targets for pending litigation by
content providers like newspapers. As the logic goes, if the content
is free, providers won't lose money.
Wired
News July 20, 2004
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