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The Rant
C O L U M N  
What's in a Name? If You Give it Away, A Box of Spam and a Lot of Aggravation

  October 29, 2001
  By Lori MacVittie


In the Middle Ages, people believed there was power in a name and would never willingly give out their "true" names. In the 21st century, marketers must scoff at those superstitious fools. After all, they know there's no power in a name--there's just lots and lots of money.



The Web has become rife with people who want your name--well, your Internet name, your e-mail address. "Free" information, "free" downloads and "free" Webcasts come at a cost--your online identity. Most people shrug and give up the goods. After all, it's just your name and e-mail address, what's the big deal? How about an inbox filled with unsolicited ads and other garbage? You can gripe all you want and call it spam, but if you signed up for something "free" that required your name and e-mail address, you gave these companies permission to send you that e-mail. Yes, you. The lists created by lures of "free" information on the Web generate millions in sales--sales of your name, my name and anyone else silly enough to comply with the request for your identity. Like vampires, they'll suck your online life away if they can, just to make a buck.

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?

-- Lori MacVittie, lmacvittie@nwc.com


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