> So yes, it is free.

This sounds pedantic, but I think it's important to spell this out: this sort of stuff is only free if you consider what you're producing/exchanging for it to have 0 value.

If you consider what you're producing as valuable, you're giving it away to companies with an incentive to extract as much value from your thing as possible, with little regard towards your preferences.

If an idiot is convinced to trade his house for some magic beans, would you still be saying "the beans were free"?

This is not only a privacy concern (in fact, that might be a tiny part since the code might end up public anyway?). There is an element of disclosure of personal data, there are ownership issues in case that code was not - in fact - going to be public and more.

In any case, not caring about the cost (at a specific time) doesn't make the cost disappear.

I understand. I get the point. I disagree

Privacy absolutely does not matter, until it does, and then it is too late

It's a transaction—a trade. You give them your personal data, and you get their services in exchange.

So no, it's not free.

if you consider watching a hour of Youtube and 30 minutes of ads to be "free videos", then be my guest. Not everything can be measured in a dollar value.

Tech companies are making untold fortunes from unsophisticated people like you.

Sophistry. "many" according to which statistic? And just because some people consider that a trade is very favorable for them, doesn't it is not a trade and it doesn't mean they are correct - who's so naïve they can beat business people at their own game?

Plenty of people can also afford to subscribe to these without any issue. They don’t even know the price, they probably won’t even cancel it when they stop using it as they might not even realize they have a subscription.

By your logic, are the paid plans not sometimes free?