Things can be so frustrating online, particularly with websites more interested in getting your personal information than providing you with information. Many websites are so consumed with getting traffic that they don’t understand that they are encouraging the very opposite of the thing they are after.
When almost every website you visit requests your personal details, at some point, you become insecure; particularly when even the most trusted of them like Facebook, have deals with other companies to sell your private details. With this knowledge, it’s like they are all forcing us to be fake for the sake of peace of mind and privacy.
Names, Emails, Zip codes, and Phone Numbers
If you are online signing up for a bank account or a social media account, it makes sense to provide your personal details. But it is not the same thing when you just want to watch a video on some website (not necessarily the kind of videos you are thinking of :P), or access some information.
Most websites mostly ask for email addresses. That means, if you visit 10 websites in a day, you’ll be receiving 10 new trash-emails if you signed up – 70 if you do the same thing for a week. Who wants that? Who has the time for that; signing up for 70 different services and then invariably going through 70 new emails every week – plus the ones you already signed up for before? And to make things worse, some sites will send you several emails in a day.
Websites and companies should understand that, sometimes, people are only interested in a service, not establishing a long-term relationship. It is true that most websites and companies mean well and don’t necessarily force people to sign up to access their services. Nonetheless, some websites with not so useful services demand that you sign up for them. These instances are the ideal ones for a random name generator. Rather than compromise your identity; use dummy names, emails, addresses, phone numbers, zip codes, and payment info; get what you need for the moment you need it; and when you are done, forget about it!
Furthermore, some websites are inconsiderate. They know quite well that they are on “THE INTERNET” – a global thing, but they only want to serve those within their region. Why put the option for choosing other regions in the world, if you are not offering services for those regions?
Even more frustrating, some companies offer services for the entire world but structure their sign up forms as if everyone in the world comes from their region. I’m referring to zip codes, street addresses, address line 2, and things like that. In some aspects, it’s understandable; nonetheless, they should create either dynamic forms that provide fields based on the selected region or make it clear that they are not interested in serving other regions in the world.
Most people are not willing to give their phone numbers and names to people they are not genuinely interested in; why would they do so for services that mean nothing to them?
If the services a website offers are not a need, then they should not harass you with sign up forms. Otherwise, such websites or companies are only encouraging spam and fake names in their servers. There’s no point in giving your valid personal details for a service you won’t use for more than three months, if not ten minutes.
Sometimes providing your personal details online makes sense but at other times, it doesn’t. When it doesn’t, but you feel you really want to access the information provided, fake it. It’s not that you are a fraud or a scam; when you are forced to do something you don’t want, the chances are that you’ll rebel or try to make things comfortable for yourself. The websites and companies doing this to people should really consider their clients’ needs and wants; not just aiming to be like other companies or carelessly running their own agenda.
The internet is a perilous and unsafe place – if you do not have to show your face, you won’t be hurting anyone if you showed up in a facade.
