7-2-I-Search-Andrew

=How can we tell if our private information is safe when signing up for internet freebies?= by Andrew

**Introduction**
I remember when I used to tell my parents when I signed up for a website, and they would always say "Did they ask for you information?" this really made me curious as to why this was relevant or not, aren't you supposed to put your real information? At least that is what the website says. As I began debating the benefits and risks of clicking the submit button on the "Win a Free IPod” website, I thought back to how to tell if the website was legit. First I did a quick Google search, resulting with positive results, maybe this wasn't a scam, and there must be some catch. Without much progress I went to technology the next class, where Mrs. Brownstone mentioned how they ask for personal information on their website and store or sell your information to 3rd party associates. Now I was really thinking, what they would use all this information for, maybe they were selling it or storing it in their databases. After taking a quick look at the ToS (Terms of Service) and privacy rights, I found hidden in the fine print something about how the company has full rights of your personal information when you accept to the ToS, now how would they use this information, something I would hope interviewing computer experts and people who study these things for a living would solve.

**Search**
I quickly called my cousin (Computer Specialist) and hoped he would pick up. After several rings we started talking about the pros and cons of signing up for a freebie website. He told me that most of these websites do store your information for "business" purposes. So my theory was right, I always knew that there was something strange about those websites, but what could I do to make sure my name or personal information isn't all over the Internet. Maybe my name would show up under a good search, quickly I went to do it. Not much came up, just a few websites that I have used before, I don't have a common name, and I am pretty sure I am the only person with this first, middle, and last name all at the same time. Nothing strange showed up for the search. Now I needed to search for some success stories.

I typed a quick You Tube search for videos regarding Internet freebie websites. Many videos came up and surprisingly most of them talked about how much they love their new iPod that they got in the mail. Now I thought I would try to experience these freebie websites myself. I signed up for a website to get a free iPod, a lot of forms regarded personal information that I would definitely not want to share. These websites are pretty strange.

Many people would say that these websites store your personal information and also reward you with what they promised. But I think that the real problem is much deeper. Who else would know about how these websites work? I tried to schedule an interview with an owner of a similar website (Bill Paxton). He owns a website that gives out free gaming accounts with games worth around $20-$55 for only an email message. Instead I sent him an email message asking for a new account, he did not ask for any personal information at all. I checked my email inbox for a week, strangely nothing new showed up. Maybe he was just too busy sending and receiving emails all day.

Trying a bigger, more known website might give me more information. I quickly opened up a page to Google.com and typed "Free iPhone"; strangely there were 9,600,000 page results. Could all of these be real? I clicked the second link on the page "[|YourFreeiPhone.com - Get a **Free iPhone**]", they claimed that "Over $4,500,000 worth of free gifts shipped!", but who would give something away for "free"? I looked carefully at the steps required to receive one of these items, and stated on the website "Step2: Try our advertiser offers". So the company giving away the free iPhone makes you fill out trails, and other offers from other websites. I decided to sign up for the free iPhone website using a fake email, address, and name. Instantly after signing up you are required to fill out offers which require entering credit card information and signing up for trail websites. I didn't think it was very smart to enter in my dad's credit card information, nor would he let me, but these websites still looked like you could get an iPod, but not for free. After signing up for advertisements putting in personal information, and referring friends, you may get an iPod a little cheaper than you would paying for it by cash, and you also use you time filling out all of the advertisements. After my personal experience with this website, I would rather go to the store and buy an iPhone than signing up for all of these other websites, and wasting hours of time.

This was just one type of "freebie" website, but there seem to be many different ways of getting stuff for "free" on the Internet. While browsing the Internet I see an advertisement for bux .to, a website that claims to give you a penny for just visiting a website. This seemed a lot better to me than entering in all of my personal information. I also could just click a website, close the browser, and view the next website in hardly any time at all. You also receive 1 cent added to you account balance for every link your referral clicks, so if you click 10 ads a day, and your 20 referral's click 10 ads a day, your monthly earnings are $63.00 for only visiting 10 websites a day.

After registering for the website (bux.to) I looked through the long list of websites to click. I simply clicked one, and it had a 30 second wait time, in which you just had to stay on the page, but the page didn't ask for my personal information and all I had to do was click the advertisement, and then I could play a game until the wait time was over, and then click the next advertisement. This website is a slow but easy way to make money, I certainly will tell my friends to check it out to. The more people you refer the more money you get. The money limit to check out is only $10, so you can get your money fast. I quickly saved my referral link, and sent it to all of my friends that were on an online chat service. Although this offer is legit, the payout is very low, and is not worth it.

**Conclusion**
After my experience with bux.to, I now feel that not all freebies are rip offs, but a lot of them are. Entering a lot of you personal information and using a lot of time to fill out advertisements is not worth getting a few dollars, or over the long time an iPod. Most people do not realize that you don’t only get a free iPod by doing these offers, you also get email spam, and you information all over the internet. I am very confident I will never try another so called “freebie” site again. After I signed up for the free iPhone website my inbox was flooded with spam from similar freebie sites. I stopped using bux.to because I felt all my effort was not worth a few pennies. In the end I found out to get free things you either lose money, or your personal information. I didn’t want to lose either. There are no real 100% freebie sites


 * Works Cited**

"Bux.to | .View .Click .Make Money." __Bux.To__. 24 Apr. 2008 <[|http://bux.to>.] "YourFreeiPhone.Com - Get a Free IPhone." __YourFreeiPhone__. 24 Apr. 2008 . Tatevossian, Armand. Personal interview. 15 Apr. 2008.