A group that objects to having to register for access to online sites is circulating a Web petition demanding that top news sites drop their registration requirements. The group apparently is
connected to the Web site BugMeNot.com, which offers users phony account names for free, registration-required sites.
The petition, which is available at PetitionOnline.com, and was sent to
an OnlineMediaDaily reporter last week, has gathered about 800 signatures. Although BugMeNot.com's operators haven't publicly revealed their identities, and don't explicitly claim ownership of
the petition, a link on BugMeNot.com's home page directs users to a site where they can sign the petition.
Dubbed "Internet Advertiser Wake-Up Day," the petition demands that 10 news sites,
including NYTimes.com, WashingtonPost.com, and LATimes.com--the top three most-accessed sites via BugMeNot.com--stop collecting demographic data in exchange for site access. "We, the undersigned, wish
to demonstrate the pointless nature of forced web site registration schemes and the dubious demographic data they collect," the petition reads.
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Signatories go on to threaten that they will create
sham accounts at those sites. "On November 13th we will each register an account using fake details at one or more of these top 10 offending sites."
BugMeNot.com has already registered tens of
thousands of fake accounts on free-registration sites.
JupiterResearch Analyst Eric Peterson said that this kind of database muddling, along with the fake accounts opened by BugMeNot.com, could
prove costly to news sites that must spend money and time to clean up their databases. "If every single registration that they get is something that's obviously in BugMeNot, I'm sure that the media
properties are going to look at it and say that it's just not worth it to try and clean this stuff up," he said. "It's unreasonable for consumers to have the expectation that just because it's on the
Internet, it should be free. Nothing on the Internet that's good is absolutely free."
BugMeNot.com, the New York Times Co., and The Washington Post did not return calls seeking comment.