Yesterday I was talking with my partner about OpenX, the advertising management system. We were amazed seeing how such a great application was offered not only free, but also as an open source project. Moreover the hosted profile is free if your website stays under 100 million impressions.

Google Analytics is another example of a free application that’s, by far, the best website analytics tool out there.

Even in this tough economy, companies still offer free services (even if some of them move to freemium or subscription models). This underlines the fact that these services are, in fact, not free.

You don’t pay money. You pay in other ways: just read carefully the terms and conditions page.

This morning I was downloading Pinger Phone, a really cool application for the iPhone which helps you connect with your friends in different ways (IM, SMS, phone, VoIP, etc.). Well, terms and conditions state, among other irritating phrases, that “Information provided by you will be made publicly available by Pinger“.

This means that your email, phone number and even contact list will be available for everyone to see. Bogus, not for everyone, just for the ones that will pay Pinger to have those informations.

Data about ourselves and our behavior is the currency you exchange to get these “free services”. In many cases this is ok and can even result in a benefit for you, as the company manages to offer you a better service or a customized app, but in other cases you don’t fully realize what you’re giving in to get that service.

Months ago some guys discovered a phrase in the Google Docs terms of services which stated that Google had the right to publish the content you put on Docs, in a way that your confidential spreadsheet could end up in a Google’s brochure. Google later changed this, but the fact remains: read carefully, read twice.

This is especially true if you’re going to upload sensitive content, such as health info or business documents. Sometimes paying a little fee is far better than giving away all your content for…free!

UPDATE: Tara Samuels, Marketing Manager of Pinger Phone, wrote me stating that: “The previous terms and conditions were an “all in one” version that also covered a WAP social networking service, Pinger Social.  Now we have separate terms and conditions for Pinger Phone and Pinger Social.” Happy to know that now Pinger Phone has nice conditions, I’ll surely give it a try!

If you’re in Berlin or, better, at the Web 2.0 Expo, poke me so that we can meet!