The technology behind these puzzles was invented at Carnegie Mellon University by a group of several computer programmers, graduate students and professors in 2000 at the request of Yahoo!, in response to the growing problem of unsolicited bulk email (spam). [1] The preponderance of free services on the web is, ostensibly, perplexing, but at this point we don't buy in to that delusion (benevolent tech corporations providing service for public good) and we are comfortable with the price (information). Discursively, free email is not just a privilege but a right, and no serious attempts to – for lack of a better word – "privatize" email have been made with any success. Our first red flag in any exploration into the intersection of capitalism, labor, and the Internet: whither the cost? The regeneration and recirculation of (digital) capital relies on organizations that want to reach you through corporations that have the keys. Free is a perspective.