location based services
the journal of Michael Werneburg
twenty-seven years and one million words
While studying modern marketing developments, I've come across nothing as bizarre as "location based" shopping.
The basic idea, as explained for instance in this breathless account is that people should use technology to tell the world where they are and how they spend their money. Using your cell phone, you submit a message to other users of your favourite services explaining where you are making purchases. It seems to take the whole notion of the purchase tracking inherent in "air miles" systems public; every interested party can have real time access to what you're doing. A permanent record of where you were and when, and what you were doing. Also, a record for every marketing operation in the world to mine for whatever purpose they see fit.
And we're meant to feel positively about this development, to even actively participate? Astonishing.
I can't think of a single good reason to participate. As an individual, I'm helping create a database of priceless marketing information without being compensated. Neither the firm collecting the data nor their clients pay me a cent. At the same time, I'm wilfully making it trivially easy for any party to abuse the information being collected. As a consumer, I suppose the incentive is a small discount at the time of purchase. But also as a consumer, am I really being compensated for the testimonial I'm inherently handing out? Do I even know how and where that data is being presented, or that it will stay where I put it?
And in participating, would I really be doing any favours for the vendors I visit? The vendor has no say in what I report, nor can they effectively respond, or defend themselves from anything malicious being said through these "locatoion based" services by third parties with an ulterior motive. This sort of system also tempts the companies gathering the data to collect fees to alter the data in one direction or another.
And then there's the matter of how the user content being provided can be authenticated or even attributed to its actual author. I'm sure the "terms and conditions" place the exposure entirely on the shoulders of the parties entering the information, and not the companies collecting, publicizing, selling, and manipulating that data.
I feel like a crank, like an over-the-hill malcontent for reponding this way, but with real money and reputations in the mix, all I can see coming from this is a hail of lawsuits.