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