Information giveaways.

If you are signing up for a freebie or registering for anything on the Net you should only give the information that is absolutely necessary. If a site is asking for more information than seems to make sense for the type of offer then either use the tip above, or just avoid it.

If it looks like they are trying to qualify you for a targeted mailing list they probably are. It is also good to note that you should never give out your phone number on the Net unless there is a very good reason for doing it. Junk email is bad enough, unsolicited phone calls we really don't need.

To avoid doing this I always enter "UL" for unlisted or I give them a "555" number. If they can't send me a freebie without a phone number, I don't want it anyway so I just move on.