Just a quick plug for an article I read entitled How Free is "free"? by a fellow Drupaller. Some of the points and ideas she discusses are a passing concern of mine... unfortunately just a passing concern, as I'm generally too busy to boil it all down and decide on a course of action.
The basic premise is that the free services we enjoy and find useful don't require payment in money but do require payment in time, attention, and personal information (advertisements!). I won't say we shouldn't use these services, but I will say we should view our time and personal information as actual resources that should be managed at least as closely as we manage our bank accounts.
Give the article a read and let me know if you have any thoughts. 
