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Paying Through Facebook May Become a Reality
SmartAboutThings writes "A recent story at the NY Times talks about a possible partnership between Facebook and mobile billing company Bango. 'You might want to buy a game or concert tickets or an astrological forecast. Careful where your fingers go. One tap, and a charge will show up on your phone bill. "Frictionless" payment is how Bango puts it. Bango will get a cut of each click; it declined to say how much.' Assuming this doesn't remain a rumor, then quite soon we might be able to pay for goods using our Facebook accounts. Could this help Facebook regain the lost trust for their investors?"
note to self - never ever ever download the facebook app for my phone.
Great. Then FB will broadcast to all your friends what it is you just bought. Glad I left over a year ago.
Proverbs 21:19
I confidently predict that a blissful union of the non-sleaziness of mobile billing, the upstanding nature of Facebook, and the excellent security of consumer client devices will lead to excellent customer satisfaction and only the most minimal of fraud and billing disputes.
They should gain the trust of their users first if they really want to see things like this pick up steam IMO
Yet another reason why I don't trust Facebook, Google, or any other of these sorts of company with my mobile number.
If I want to buy something I'll take out my credit card tap in all the numbers and buy it. At least that way I *know* that I'm buying something, and I'm not nastily surprised when my mobile bill is huge after hitting the wrong button when my touchscreen plays up.
Humans make mistakes all the time. That's why making it really, really easy to pay for things online is a bad idea. What to speak of the problems a malicious takeover of ones system produces, very easy online payments will make many, many people pine for doing things the hard way.
If you want one, chances are you aren't very good at dealing with finances or life in general.
I give it 3 months. Between click fraud, deceptive ads that trick you into accidentally buying stuff and hackers, people will soon be scared to even log into their facebook accounts.
Pick ANY other fast food joint! Taco Bell is tasty!
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
Only if they can gain the trust of a fair amount of users.
I use Facebook, but under a fake name with as little personal information as I can give them. There's no way I'd trust Facebook with financial information.
I've no doubt that at least some users will think this is grand, but there's no way I'd ever use this. Their level of trust from me is arms length and suspicious.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
Hey! p-niiice just bought a FLESHLIGHT from FLASHLIGHT.COM! p-niiice recommends you buy a FLESHLIGHT from FLESHLIGHT.com too!
This is one of the reasons I have never acquired any of the bonus cards of the supermarkets.
The goal here is to make payment so easy that you don't have the time to reconsider the purchase decision while, for instance, you're pulling out your wallet to get out your credit card. These are people that firmly believe that the way to make the world a better place is to make it easier for them to buy stuff whether or not it is of any use to them whatsoever. I know, because I've attended one of the major conferences in the industry and met some of these folks and listened to their talks about this sort of technology.
And of course, what makes it easy for a legitimate business to take your money also makes it easy for a not-so-legitimate business or a thief to take your money.
I am officially gone from
bitcoin?
*ducks*
The last thing we need is for Facebook to trick people into making it powerful in a whole new way.
The only friction they are removing is by greasing the path from my pocket to their pocket.
And I'd rather there BE friction there, since it's my pocketbook on the line.
Users? Fuck users!
From the threads on 4chan, it's apparent lots of people are paying through Facebook already.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
Because I have had a "3rd party billing" block on my AT&T account for years. and I suggest everyone do the same. it keeps scumbag companies like bango from being able to charge your Mobile phone number for anything.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Lost trust? Shirley you jest!
Never had any...
A surprising number of (dumbasses) lined up to put $38/share worth of trust into facebook... (and look where it got them).
But most people won't see it this way.
If you haven't noticed then I hate to break it to you. But most people are effectively stupid. Oh, they can think and can even pay attention if they really, really feel like they have to. But most of the time they don't. They're normally too self-absorbed and therefore oblivious. And they don't view actual thought and decision-making as privileges to be enjoyed - they see them as horrible burdens to be neglected whenever possible. It's why we have the kind of gov't we have (increasingly out of control). It's why there is Facebook.
Most people will see it as a simpler way to spend what little money they have (at this stage in the game, is an EASIER way to spend money what young people need?)
Consider this next move a sort of IQ (or EQ) test. If you never made a Facebook account, congratulations. You are beyond the test. If you made one sometime ago but stopped using it, again congratulations, everyone makes a mistake once in a while, it's part of being human. If you still have an active Facebook account, that's strike one. If you use that active account to purchase items, knowing everything we know about this company's founder and its business practices, well that's strike two.
If you see us questioning them and you disagree, and your first response is anger/irritation/taking it personally/resentment, instead of explaining why you think we in this thread are wrong, well that's strike three. That's FAIL. You fail the IQ test. Your conversion is now complete: you are now defending and making apology for the parasite that is feeding off your life. You see the same pattern with most extreme forms of religions and fanboyisms and pretty much anything that makes no rational sense.
as long as this means that i can get PAID this way. Heck i have a prepaid Amex i could link to this.
Any person using FTFY or editing my postings agrees to a US$50.00 charge
Paying Through Facebook May Become a Reality
should read
Paying Through Facebook May Become Possible
FTFY... it will never be my reality.
load "$",8,1
But.... Taco Bell was the only restaurant to survive the Franchise Wars. Now all restaurants are Taco Bell.
I believe that they have ably demonstrated that they do not need the trust of their users.
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This is just part of FB' continous mutations. Remember what FB was like before twitter became popular? Then they "twitterised" it, added news feeds, timeline and other nonsense. However now post IPO the pressure is on and people are realising that FBs model for making money does n't make any sense, so you get crazyness like buying instagram, constant talk about making money from mobile and now payments.
In the end FB will probably get into a feedback loop where they have to become more and more obnoixious chasing revenue from users whilst turning off those users at the same time.
I dont think FB will die because ultimately they will always have their core users but in the same way that Myspace does.
I use a fake name too, but they know who my friends are, they know what my friends like and they know how I look like if my friends tag me on their pictures. Pretty sure that it's not hard to find my identity online.
If you never made a Facebook account, congratulations. You are beyond the test. If you made one sometime ago but stopped using it, again congratulations, everyone makes a mistake once in a while, it's part of being human. If you still have an active Facebook account, that's strike one.
I understand the dislike, distrust and sometimes even hatred of things like facebook, but assuming that anyone with an active facebook account isn't aware of the issues seems to be a common mistake around here.
I have a facebook account. I actively use it. I also understand that anything I put there (or others put there about me) (whether marked as private or not) is potentially as public as me scrawling it in 50 metre high letters on the side of a public building in the middle of town (however significantly more socially acceptable).
I still choose to use it, because it's a good way to keep in touch with my many friends around the world; post pictures of my daughter growing up for anyone who cares to see that; organise events with friends in an easy to manage interface; and so on. I do block pretty much every game, "application" and so on and it's almost beyond the pale to imagine I would ever consider using such a payment system as the one described; however that doesn't mean I have to get rid of using facebook altogether - just don't use what you don't want (and remember the thing about scrawling your information in public, as already mentioned).
I do NOT fear things like potential employers/future business partners/whatever seeing that I was out at a party drunk one day. Anyone who refuses to hire me for that, isn't someone I want to work for/do business with/etc.
My book about LSD and Self-Discovery
Also on facebook as: DroppingAcidDaleBewan
I understand the dislike, distrust and sometimes even hatred of things like facebook, but assuming that anyone with an active facebook account isn't aware of the issues seems to be a common mistake around here.
Thinking that you can play footsies with the Devil and never ever get burned is another very common mistake.
... and then participating in those companies' offerings anyway, well that's another all-too-common mistake. It always seems like your own individual contribution is a tiny drop in a big bucket, but then masses of people make this mistake and it really matters.
Or saying that you have a set of principles by which you recognize certain companies' behavior as evil, exploitative, maladaptive, undesirable, etc
I still choose to use it, because it's a good way to keep in touch with my many friends around the world; post pictures of my daughter growing up for anyone who cares to see that; organise events with friends in an easy to manage interface; and so on. I do block pretty much every game, "application" and so on and it's almost beyond the pale to imagine I would ever consider using such a payment system as the one described; however that doesn't mean I have to get rid of using facebook altogether - just don't use what you don't want (and remember the thing about scrawling your information in public, as already mentioned).
What "I don't want" is to ever make more successful a company that does business this way. What "I don't want" is to ever feel like no one ever had any way to keep in touch before the advent of Facebook. What I especially "don't want" is to promote the kind of culture surrounding Facebook. Joining them would be the same as giving my silent consent. In most relationships of abuse and exploitation, what you describe above is called being an enabler. You see, it's not a matter of features.
There is no convenience Facebook could ever offer me that would convince me to overlook their attitude towards their users. It is definitely not an attitude of respect and appreciation. It's more like the attitude a farmer has towards his livestock. That's simply unacceptable to me under any terms. I don't care to make a game of being the cow or chicken and seeing how much feed I can get out of the farmer while trying to avoid the privacy slaughterhouse. I probably could win such a game, like you are doing, but then I can definitely get my own feed. I'd rather simply have nothing to do with Facebook, have never once had an account, never visited the site, block their "Like buttons" etc, and I have never once regretted that decision.
Imagine if every user who felt the way you do decided not to use Facebook. It would create demand for a more reasonable social network. Right now starting one would fail because everyone is already on Facebook, and much of the utility of such a site is the number of people you can reach with it. Even a giant like Google is having grave difficulty getting an alternative off the ground, and most startups wouldn't have Google's deep pockets and name recognition.
It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Einstein
And everybody is going to embrace "Facebook as a porn payment", because there's no way FB will ever mine the data they gathered through your sales for marketing and advertising purpose~ They've always respected users privacy~ </sarcasm>
Seriously? I think you're right. Idiots will flock to it to buy lots of stupid stuff where privacy and anonymity would have been preferred.
FB's marketing department will mine this data like hell.
Cue in embarrassing target advertising and suggestions.
(Ob Penny Arcade ref)
Or even malicious apps:
- we've currently reached the point where "click jacking" on FB is now considered by lambda users as "just happening" and part of the background noise. Its accepted to be just part of the landscape, the way SPAM is for e-mails (before massive efforts in filtering and bot-net shutdowns managed to curb it a little bit).
(Am I the last human being on FB who doesn't fall for the "click on the moving 'play' button to prove you're not a bot in order to see teh lezboz video?!?)
- it's pretty much easy to get people to friend a page or add an application through click jacking.
- a malicious application could then exploit the gained privilege to access user info (Through advanced access with regular FB API granted during the click jacking, or through exploits. That has already happened before).
- mine and infer porn habits from the data.
- blackmail/scam/shame the poor victim.
Next step for Facebook:
Now they just need to buy a few websites like "Adult Finder", cross reference their databases, and they'll become the newest biggest pimping infrastructure on the net since Craiglist had to close its adult section.
And the blackmailer/scammer need to start collaborating with divorce-specialised lawyers.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
Average Joe doesn't care about "trust" or "security", because he doesn't even know what those things are.
Until the very last moment when it comes back into his face. But then it's already to late.
That's why they click yes on "Run free-chicks.exe as admin?".
(NB: FTFY)
Yup. Just have a look at how much click jacking has become rampant lately.
And the joe-six-pack reaction when he notice that the pseudo-'video player' has auto-liked itself and auto-plublished itself on the wall, is just "LOL". Doesn't even bother do delete the post, and unfriend/unlike the page or block the app.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
I have perfectly good credit card that gives me perfectly good rewards to the point that I run my whole life through it and get nearly a thousand dollars a year in free stuff. It's also with a bank that is S.H.I.E.L.D.-like when it comes to detecting and snuffing out unauthorized shit. So why do I want some other middle man to get in the way again?
I'm genuinely interested in what your sister needs a fleshlight for? From an anatomic point of view...
Or to you imply that the FB "me too"-ers are going to keep their habit of following any trend and/or installing/buying the same apps as everyone else, even if doesn't make any anatomical sense.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
Sounds like the potential for a good fucking, all right, but not necessarily the kind you want.
Payment using Facebook? I don't think so. Why not be done with it and make barcode tattoos on foreheads mandatory?
Those who can, do. Those who can't, write technology blogs.
Pure marketting demographics research, for which they were willing to 'pay' me in discounts on food and gas purchases at the supermarket-owned gas station at the end of their parking lot. That's what those bonus cards are for
That's what you think. But the amount of data and how they can mine it is scary.
See the embarrassing anecdote about Target, and the 'statistically pregnant daughter' as an example. (And remember: all this was done with completely legally acquired data. No snooping involved. Just the power of statistics).
And what did Target learn from this story? That they should stop mining data in such a way that provide embarrassing insight in the private life of individuals? No.
They learned that next time they have to hide the relevant targeted add among innocuous looking ads. So that the "victim" doesn't freak out, realising that their private life doesn't have any secret for them.
And as said, this was done by a company which completely abides to the various privacy law. No violation in data gathering laws, only maths tricks.
Now imagine what could a company like Facebook do, which was caught red handed changing the default privacy settings without user consent, just because they updated their policies.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
And meanwhile, Facebook's marketing/datamining/advertising department just had a massive orgasm at the though of the new possibilities.
Then, all the writers-of-crappy-apps/scammers/clickjacker/hacker/exploiters started a big circle jerk while thinking of *their* expanded possibilities.
After which all the lawyers (with specialities as diverse as divorce, etc.) all quickly ran buying more lube (and bigger strap-ons) just to be ready.
And I see scareware/let-me-help-you-scrub-your-profile/heal-your-online-reputation people approaching on the horizon.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
Slashdot doesn't demand you use your real name.
Dilbert RSS feed
I have a friend on Facebook called Pin Gu. His profile picture is Pingu. I have another friend who is a guitar called Matilda Hohner..
which is totally what she said
So silky smooth, you don't even notice you're being financially raped.
Bango (AIM: BGO), announced on 21 May 2012 that Peter Saxton, Bango’s CFO, had notified the Board of Bango of his wish to retire, on a schedule to be agreed with the Board that will ensure an orderly hand-over to a new CFO. This process is ongoing and is expected to be completed by November 2012.
(later)
Peter Saxton, Chief Financial Officer at mobile web payments firm Bango, has sold 386,701 shares on 23 August 2012 at a price of 179.50p per share.
And Facebook doesn't either. Not really. There is a guy posting as God on FB. According to reddit, he was banned for 3 days for posting an illustration of female reproductive organs and notes about what Sen. candidate Akin calls them. So obviously they are aware of the account, but haven't forced him to quit entirely.
Ceci n'est pas un sig.
"Frictionless" payment is how Bango puts it.
Can we all agree that whenever a corporation uses the term "frictionless payment," we simply replace it with "greasing the consumer's wallet." People tend to think of friction as a negative term, but do you really find that you're having trouble getting your card or the linen out of your wallet because there's simply too much friction? If someone offered a "frictionless wallet" from which money slips out effortlessly, would you buy it? Some things, like brakes and wallets, are useless without friction.
I once worked with several of the megabanks, and I remember a marketing guy trying to communicate what the banks wanted out of the software I was working on, telling me that consumers don't want to enter their credit card information, or even authorize its use, to make purchases online. I told him consumers need a measure of control over their money... they need to be sure that nothing is being charged to their cards unless they authorize it. He explained that the banks don't like it when consumers nitpick their spending like that... they want consumers to spend money without paying attention to the details, because they won't notice when the bank slips in a small, unexplained service charge, or when they've gotten themselves into debt that the bank can profit off of (the bank's task is to figure out how far to let them go before they're unable to pay). Whenever a bank/financial institution talks about making it easier to get money out of your wallet, you need to be on guard.
Bango will get a cut of each click; it declined to say how much.'
I see Facebook has a loophole here. "Technically, none of our mobile customers clicked anything, as they all use touchscreen devices which lack the capacity to emit a clicking sound or click-like action. They used the tapping method, but since the contract says Bango only gets paid for 'clicks,' Bango get nothing."
I don't even trust them with my personal information, why in the world would I give them my financial information?
That's because they not only demand it, but also enforce the rule in an inconsistent and unpredictable way, which is even worse since a strict enforcement might get people to pressure them to change the rule.
But it definitively does happen, you just need a friendly anonymous coward to report you: http://www.thevine.com.au/life/tech/odd-names-banned-on-facebook/, http://www.tmz.com/2012/08/05/selena-gomez-banned-facebook/
Dilbert RSS feed
Demand is not the same as enforce. But yes, they do, just in an inconsistent way. That "God" just needs to piss some people off enough for them to mass report him.
Dilbert RSS feed
Fortunately, the deal did not go through. Apparently, the lawyer who was supposed to oversee it scratched his nose at a charity auction and inadvertantly paied $10,450,000 for a screwdriver with some old chewing gum on the handle. Apparently it was a celebrity item. The lawyer, though a man of considerable means, could not come up with the cash and was detained for some time until he could convince them there was no intent of fraud. He is, however, permanently banned from the auction venue and as I said, quite late for the meeting that was supposed to close the deal.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?