If it’s not enough for your TinyURL or bit.ly shrink-link to be an effectively blind destination, then new URL shortener Trick.ly furthers the online obfuscation:

Trick.ly is a free service that shortens and password protects web links you want to share with select individuals on the internet. And rather than rope you and your contacts into a new social network, Trick.ly allows you to share with people on-the-fly.

If you want to protect secrets from the “merely curious”, Trick.ly lets you put a password on links with clues only your friends would get.

So instead of directly heading for the intended page, Trick.ly speedbumps you first for the password/security question. A short pause, and maybe an appreciated one — but a process that ultimately gums up the free-flow Web even further. Just what we need.

Still, this is a creative approach. It doesn’t look like it’s particularly secure; I’m sure you can crack most user-generated passwords with little effort, so top-secret links should go elsewhere (like, not on the Web in the first place). I suppose Trick.ly is no more inane than any other shortening service, so get as tricky as you want with those shortform links.