Glenn Reynolds has a Tech Central Station column up on those annoying registration pages for newspapers. Key quote:



"Take a look at those lists of information you collect: how many people have given their email as 'nobody@biteme.com', and do you have an implausibly large number of 97-year-old black women living in Alaska as readers? I'll bet you do."



I generally put myself down as a 100 year old male living at either 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in DC or 555 Main Street, Anytown. The white house idea came when the registration page for the Washington Post got cute and started actually checking whether the addresses being inputted were real. Yep, I'm now the prez, as far as they're concerned. Or maybe just a hot 100 year-old intern.



But there is hope:



Bug Me Not. You input the URL of the news service and it gives you a valid username and password. Cool - now I can get onto the London Times again, one of the worst of the worst. I absolutely refuse to buy a subscription simply to gain online access for a few stories.



UPDATE:



D*mn it, the Times still expects a subscription. Oh well, back to the Guardian.