You search for "free ringtones" through Google or similar search engines.

The search results include sites that advertise ringtones that are "100 percent free," "complimentary," etc. with no disclaimers.

You click on the site and maybe are prompted to click onto other sites. Eventually, you are asked for your cell phone number so you can be sent the "free" ringtones.

Typing in the number unwittingly "subscribes" you to a monthly service that's next to impossible to stop. You don't know it unless you study your next phone bill and, even then, it's hard to identify because it's not labeled as to what it is.

Peeling back the layers of who's involved and how much money they make reveals a complex Web of participants. Here's a simplified version:

There's an advertiser who puts the ads on the Internet and convinces you, using deceptive practices, to type in your cell phone number.

Escaping Baghdad

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Going Against The Curve

I mean, it's not like the tabs are under some sort of centralized control, a single management that could be bought off by a truckload of cash. Get with it! Clinton's business partner can't just waltz in and buy up all the tabloids. ... What's that you're saying? ... [What would Arnold do?--ed. Good point. The aptly-named tab king David Pecker may finally have hit on a solid moneymaking strategy.] 11:29 P.M.

Republican Debate: I guess I'm really not a Republican--or else Chris Matthews is an effective Dem saboteur--because the whole GOP field seemed weaker after the debate (just as the Dem field seemed stronger after its MSNBC debut). Judging just on affect, Blink-like, I thought McCain, Ron Paul, and Hunter did well. Giuliani a bit less well. Romney appears stiff and phony compared to the other front-runners.

Shop Talk

The crowd went wild before the always classic George Clooney even set foot on the red carpet in a shawl collar tux by with bow tie.