DENVER -- If you browse a lot of news sites, you've probably come across this scenario -- in order to read a story, you have to fill out a form with your name, age, income, interests and e-mail address.

If you willingly provide those demographic details (which are important to a site's advertisers), you become a "member" of the site and get a free username and password.

But if it gets to a point when you have too many passwords and too many usernames and you can't keep them all straight, or you're just tired of registering for one more Web site, turn to BugMeNot.com.

Whenever you come across a site that asks you to register, go to BugMeNot, type in the site you want to access and BugMeNot will give you a working login and password that someone else has set up and wants to share.

They're usually fake registrations -- so there's no need to worry about accessing someone's private e-mail account or online identity -- but they often do work.

The creator of this site, an anonymous Australian, provides this service because he or she feels that it's a breach of privacy and "contrary to the fundamental spirit of the Net" to require someone to register to read a free Web site. The creator also feels that it's pointless and a waste of time to register for these sites since most people make up information about themselves anyway.

What the site does isn't llegal and it's a service only for free sites that require registration. It cannot be used to access paid sites or those for private use.

Whether or not you feel it is wrong to use such a site, the site doesn't debate ethics, but steers you to a discussion among journalists whether people sharing registration information is a good thing.

BugMeNot has gained a following because many people are fed up with the increasing number of free sites that require registration to access content.

The site says more than 35,000 sites have been "liberated."

If you do use BugMeNot, you're expected to contribute to the sharing community. If you come across a site that doesn't have a working registration, you're asked to create one to share.