The following is paraphrased from an online privacy policy offering a "free" service. "Although we do not sell or rent any personally identifiable information about you to any third party, we may, in certain cases where you access our site from other third-party sites, release your e-mail address to such third party." Didn't read the policy first? Of course not! Neither did I, and now I have two inboxes full of junk to prove it.

The bottom line is that when you sign up for something free, you are more than likely opting in for some kind of spam. There is no such thing as anonymity in the age of electronic communication. There once was, in the early days of the Web. No one knew who you were, and it was great. Now everyone knows who you are and what you are doing, and what appears to be free is not. We are afraid to answer the phone for fear of being accosted by a telemarketer and afraid to open our e-mail for fear of being offered the latest herbal Viagra products.

No, there's no power in a name. None at all. Now where did I leave my garlic and that vial of holy water?