Giving Hackers A One-Stop Shop? ... Priceless!

"MasterCard is back! The keeper of the light! All hail MasterCard! All hail MasterCard! Oh MasterCard can you see by the dawn's early light..."

Grand Central Station Locker Creatures

I suppose, we can wonder if they will up the interest charges on items purchased in their store.

I mean, setting up their own mall, the skeptic in me has thoughts of this is, somehow, related to skirting the new regulations governing the Credit Card Slimeballs

MasterCard Set to Open an Online Shopping Mall

Through a new partnership with an Internet company that specializes in personalized shopping, MasterCard is set to introduce a Web shopping mall on Monday that it says can pinpoint with considerable accuracy what its cardholders are likely to purchase.

The site, called MasterCard Marketplace, relies on technology developed by Next Jump, a New York company that monitors customer behavior from thousands of retailers and uses the data it gathers to help merchants tailor their product offerings.

[snip]

Some privacy advocates, meanwhile, say the technology makes them uncomfortable.

Anita L. Allen, a law professor who studies privacy issues at the University of Pennsylvania, said that as consumers gave up more private information for short-term gains, “In the end, we turn into citizens who live in a world where we have no control over our own data.”

[snip]

But some privacy experts question the growing use of customer data on sites like MasterCard Marketplace, even if people divulge it willingly.

Joseph Turow, a communications professor at the University of Pennsylvania, said that hiding the identity of customers from merchants was not enough.

The type of profiling done by sites like MasterCard Marketplace, he said, often leads to “social discrimination,” in which people are lumped into categories they may find objectionable. He said companies rarely explained to people how they were categorized.

All this means is, should you shop there, you will soon, thereafter, be bombarded with spam emails, extolling all the great items on sale.

And what about security?

If they are measurable, I would bet this story has been bookmarked by scores-of-thousands of hackers, from the Russian Mob, to acne-covered teens, twitching there fingertips hovering over their keyboards, virtually hyperventilating, just waiting to crack this puppy.

Being in debt-bondage to MasterCard .... Priceless!


Bonus Business Riffs

Neiman Marcus Sells Self Through Catalog ..."Almost Threw Away Book In Recycling", Says Buyer

Visa Ends Triple Crown Sponsorship But Keeps Derby ...Cites Pending Use of Child Jockeys As Means To Increase Brand

GoldenPalace.Com Rumored To Win Lunch With Buffet for $351G's ...Funds Go To Charity; Extra's Included Oracle of Omaha Being Tattooed With Casino Logo

Hooters Applauds FDA Breast Implant Vote ...Opens Doors For More Woman To Become 'Hooter Girls'

Coming Soon, On "Film At 11"