January 7, 2010
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News: Opening Up a New Door; Enter CC Thieves
As if Americans don't have enough to worry about in regards to protecting their personal credit card and financial information, a new company aims to cause further chaos and privacy decay. Blippy, a new online company offers a place where members' credit card activity is clearly posted for all other members to view. It goes beyond understanding why anyone would want to have all their personal information plastered for millions of others to see and yet the company believes there is a need for the service. Antisocial; is what some might call you if you choose not to participate in plastering your personal credit card spending across the global waves. Who is the someone? Is it really someone you feel is worthy of snooping through your personal business?
Advocates for Blippy say that the benefits of sharing your credit card spending habits can actually outweigh the risks. They say that by displaying all your spending habits will alert other retailers on your interests and thereby send you special offers and coupons. I don't know about you, but I am personally buried in intrusive emails and telemarketing calls giving me what they feel are extra benefits and special offers. Nevertheless, Blippy sees value in putting consumers at greater risk for credit card fraud and identity theft. The company will even give you a 20 percent discount if you provide them with 500 contacts. In essence, what you'll be doing is advertising for every retailer you visit.
This how it works: Blippy posts members' credit card information to be shared by other members and friends. The company's assumption is that consumers have several different card accounts but will only share one. Blippy takes your personal information and shares it with online e-tailers like iTunes, StubHub and Amazon. Blippy is not the first company to launch this type of program, Facebook launched a similar site called Beacon in 2008. After settling a class-action suit pertaining to privacy and security, Facebook shut down the site and paid a $9.5 million settlement. Now I am all about sharing, but freely handing over my identity and financial future to a pack of retailers is simply not an option.