Helping Surfers Sidestep Site Registration

netbuzz writes, "PrefPass, a startup debuting at DEMO today, is looking to do for the onerous Web site registration process what Amazon has done for shopping: one click and you get the goods. If it catches on, sites requiring full registration may feel the heat." Looks like sites will have an incentive to implement PrefPass; it's not antagonistic to their interests in the way Bugmenot is.

Comments

Attempted before?

[daveschroeder]

Hasn't this been attempted before, with the likes of PassPort, and other numerous "universal" single-signon type things that have attempted to partner with commercial sites, and so on?

It says it's different from PassPort, and I agree, but I fail to see why this would have any more success.

Re:Attempted before?

[KillerCow]

this just holds information about what you like and your name, stuff like that. For all intents and purposes you are still anonymous

I think that your definition of "anonymous" is different from most people's.

Don't the sites want the demographic info?

[khasim]

I thought (correct me if I'm wrong) that the reason those sites want your age / sex / location was for demographics (for marketing and such).

If they just want to personalize your page, a cookie should be sufficient.

So, if this tool allows me to login to multiple sites, but with faked info, I don't see the sites going for it.

Registration for what?

[TheWoozle]

I hate sites that require registration to access "free" content. Either publish your content to your "free" website, or charge me for it. I shouldn't have to tell you anything about myself to get access.

I know I'm jaded and cynical, but how much of the information that is entered into web site registration pages is genuine, anyway?

PrefPass for PrefPass

[MojaveHigh]

Can I use PrefPass to avoid registration for PrefPass?

Re:passport?

[jjeffries]

I know it's weird, but...

I love the way you say "passport".

C'mon, won't you say it again?

mmmmmm.... passport... it's just such a beautiful word...

passport...

passport!

No password?

[CurbyKirby]

A Web-based service, the PrefPass registration itself requires only two pieces of information from a user: an e-mail address and the URL of a first Web site or feed in which the user is interested.

So if you're only identified by an already public identifier (that being your email address), what's to prevent people from messing around with other people's preferences? Cookies can be lost by the legitimiate user and spoofed by an attacker. IP-based filering doesn't work for different users behind a common firewall. I wonder how they can get by without some sort of password. I wish they had a technical FAQ to go along with their press release.

No surprises here

[rts008]

Just another vehicle to serve up even more advertising.

FTA: "In exchange, users agree to let PrefPass sites access their pref lists, thus allowing them to customize the experience, as well target advertising to the user."

I'll stick with BugMeNot, thank you.

To Hell with What They Want

[PopeRatzo]

I could not care much less for what sites want when they try to collect my demographic information. More often then not, it is directly the opposite of my own desires and preferences. I go to a site to read an article, check a price, or a score, or the day's news. I will look at an advertisement under protest, but I will not willingly give them ammunition to bother me outside of my interaction with their site.

When a site asks for my personal information just so I can see their advertisements on my way to reading the morning's news, I have no problem at all about lying to them. I give a fake name, a fake zip code and a fake email.

If they require an email authorization, I use a spamcatcher account that is created with fake information.

Since when are we required to acquiesce to the wishes of the corporate world just for the privelege of purchasing and using their products? Since when do I have to provide correct personal information just to get the day's weather forecast?

It's the same thing when I go to a Best Buy or Radio Shack and they ask for my zip code or last name. Maybe down the line if they figure out that people are lying to them they'll stop asking.

I'm starting to believe that the next few decades will be marked by the traditional business/customer relationship being replaced by a much more combative, adversarial interaction between the individual and the corporation. It will be to nobody's benefit, but it seems that there are few ways to discourage real assholes. I'm sure those of us who still believe in the primacy of the individual and privacy in general will become inventive in coming up with more ways to thwart these "business" people who believe they have ownership rights over our lives. It's time to balance the scales a bit, I think.