. . . but it's not.
Want Everyone To See Your Credit Card Transactions? Of Course You Do. Meet Blippy.: "As the Internet matures, slowly but surely everything we do in the real world is going social. But there’s a limit to how much information we can explicitly share on all the various services. A new service, Blippy, launching today in private beta, has an interesting way to take something you do everyday, buy things with your credit card, and automatically push those transactions online for others to see and interact with.
Yes, I know this is a controversial idea — that’s part of what makes it potentially a great one. Imagine being able to see everything your friends buy with a credit card as they do it. This not only tells you what kind of things they’re actually into (rather than someone just saying they like something), but also other information like how cheap they are, as well as where they actually are at a given time. There is actually a lot of data tied into the transactions we make, and Blippy takes that and makes it social."
5 comments:
Too bad some of the people who really need watching are not likely to sign up for this! (Nor am I.)
That's just sick! This whole new notion of what is and ought to be "social" is profoundly alien to me, and, at 51, I am going to let it remain so for the rest of my days. I now officially declare myself an old codger (a few years ahead of schedule, but what the heck). I am not on Facebook, MySpace, or Twitter, and at this rate I may get off LinkedIn even though it is more businessy. These are all just ways for others to collect information on you -- people who are not your friends, or even people you know, or even people at all.
Something about this doesn't parse. Isn't it against the law?
It's 1984. Big Brother has arrived.
RSW
It's not that Big Brother has arrived so much as he has been invited in by a combination of commercialism and yearning for social interactions.
What we buy has been tracked for a long time now, that's nothing new, but at least we could know it was within the framework of our personal choices, between us and the vendor. How do you think Amazon comes up with those "recommendations" when you log in?
But I agree wholeheartedly with Patrick about telling the world about what I do in terms of shopping, or any other personal choices I might make. No way. I also do not go the "social network" route, and I don't sit here at home yearning for friends, social status or a need to belong. No Face book, Twitter, or any of it. For that matter, I have no cell phone. If necessary, I'll buy one when I need it, not because it's the thing to do or have.
Meanwhile I don't want anyone stalking my choices.
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