This is a romantic view of much of what is happening on the internet. Yes there are free systems and resources developed for wide use on the internet. BUT these free resources are increasingly used to bait and manipulate users. Google is the master technician of this strategy. Its the "free rider" problem in reverse (lets call it the "free giver" problem) and another good example of what happens if there is just one person taking an action compared to the disaster that occurs if everyone does it! One person giving Google free access to all their preferences and decisions in exchange for, say, a "taylor made" google home page - no biggie. But when a large percentage of people do it - then the payoff for google is enormous - market information that is used to increase control over all other businesses on the internet, to target strategic internet businesses for takeover and to trade political favors for information unwittingly provided by internet users who know not what they give. It a part of what I call "take away marketing" and is an ironic out come of a technology that grew so rapidly basically because of the enormous generosity of the masses.