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Privacy Incursions to Support Price Discrimination
An anonymous reader writes "BusinessWeek has an interesting interview with academic Andrew Odlyzko about how increased corporate spying will inevitably lead to targeted pricing and how this system can be abused." The paper (pdf) makes interesting reading. Very good insights into the reasons why businesses want to get to know you.
"So, I'd like to buy a lamp. I'll pay a dirham for it."
"Bah, this lamp is made of the finest brass, five dirhams is the least I can accept!"
"Eh... out of pity, I might be persuaded to go as high as two dirhams."
"Sir, I can see you are a man of discriminating taste. As a special favor, I will let it go for three dirhams."
"Done, provided the lamp is filled with oil."
"You drive a hard bargain sir. Done."
All the creatures will die, And all the things will be broken. That's the law of samurai. (Jubai, 1605)
"Price Discrimination" sounds evil, but really it's used every day, you've seen it a thousand times, and it's never bothered you before. Been to a movie lately? How come a ticket costs less if you're a senior citizen? Are the costs of showing a movie to an old woman significantly lower than that of showing it to a young man, such that a $3 difference in ticket price is warranted? Same thing for airline seats, amusement park tickets, etc. It's really no big deal.
We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.