pricing transparency for variable priced services (comcast, gyms, etc.) could be very empowering for consumers. crowd-sourced fraud detection seems pretty interesting as well. and of course, discovery elements...
This is one of the classic ways people hook you into giving up your privacy, by talking about only the benefits and not talking about the costs.
I don't deny that amongst the buried millions of transactions this system will most assuredly generate, some minute fraction may actually benefit somebody by showing Comcast shenanigans or something. But... at what cost?
Sure, consumers might get some small amount of "empowerment", and all it took was handing large amounts of empowerment over to Blippy and whatever "affiliates" they sign with next month. Wow, what a deal!
If comcast publishes a list of their clients and how much they paid, I will make top dollar from Verizon and Cox converting Comcast's clients. Have you ever heard of a thing called list building? marketers make do with far less information. Buying habits are top dollar data, you don't just give that away.
FTA: "And because the actual purchase prices are made visible, there are other interesting dynamics. For example, imagine being able to tell if you’re getting ripped off with what you’re paying for a gym membership or on your Comcast bill when compared to what your friends are spending on the same things.
There’s also the potential to have private accounts that maybe a businessman would only share with his assistant to let them know what’s being purchased and explain things a bit better in the comments. Again, yes the idea is controversial, but there are a lot of interesting things that could come of it, if people are willing to be this transparent."
Is more transparency always better? If every moment of your day was videotaped and catalogued for everyone to see, yes, it might be good (people might be able to point stuff out that you could improve upon), but would you really want that despite all the "benefits"?
I don't deny that amongst the buried millions of transactions this system will most assuredly generate, some minute fraction may actually benefit somebody by showing Comcast shenanigans or something. But... at what cost?
Sure, consumers might get some small amount of "empowerment", and all it took was handing large amounts of empowerment over to Blippy and whatever "affiliates" they sign with next month. Wow, what a deal!