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Apple Patents Bank Account Balance Snooping Tech

Posted by samzenpus on from the what-do-you-got-in-there? dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Apple's latest patent filings shows that the company is looking into displaying advertising based on your available bank balance. If Apple moves forward with this type of technology it would be a complete 360 on its previous direction to not monetize everything they know about customers. Tim Cook has even said multiple times that companies are targeting consumers on multiple fronts and that he's completely against using customer information in this manner and it's not the kind of company he wants Apple to be.

25 of 133 comments (clear)

  1. 360 degrees is not what you think it is by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Seriously.

    1. Re:360 degrees is not what you think it is by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Companies patent stuff all the time, often as a defensive measure. Outrage should be reserved for what companies actually do. There is no indication that Apple is implementing this idea.

      Also, the actual patent, does not mention your "bank account", only your available credit.

    2. Re:360 degrees is not what you think it is by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 4, Funny
      I checked out the patent.....

      Aaaaaaannnnd What the fuck?

      So to put it mildly, the article is 100 percent Bullshit, a fucking lie, yet will be held as gospel truth by Apple haters.

      This article needs taken down now, It is not factual, and the patent is for available credit, not bank account balance. there is a huie difference in both availability and ethics.

      Thank you Shanghai Bill, for exposing the truth in the increasingly clickbaitish and not at all concerned with actual truth, Slashdot.

      6 Weeks of shame on you Samzenpus. So were you lying, or just performing the worst fact checking since people made up shit ot get Pulitzer prizes?

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    3. Re:360 degrees is not what you think it is by Cederic · · Score: 2

      Thanks for telling people that haven't worked for credit card companies or banks what a credit line is. I already knew.

      Now try telling us why it's so ethically different a financial attribute on which to base advertising than a bank balance.

    4. Re:360 degrees is not what you think it is by Sun · · Score: 2

      A Freudian slip is when you mean one thing but say your mother.
      - Anonymous

      Shachar

  2. Complete 360? by slickwillie · · Score: 3, Funny

    So they are back to where they started?

    1. Re:Complete 360? by Feral+Nerd · · Score: 2

      So they are back to where they started?

      Don't worry about this patent. I'm pretty sure the NSA has prior art on this.

  3. Defensive versus Offensive Patents by BoRegardless · · Score: 2, Insightful

    There are multiple reasons why one wants to obtain a patent, including denying competitors use.

    1. Re:Defensive versus Offensive Patents by NostalgiaForInfinity · · Score: 3, Funny

      Yeah, it's not like Apple has ever been litigious about "their" patents! Oh no, never!

    2. Re:Defensive versus Offensive Patents by grahamtriggs · · Score: 2

      That's the point - on one hand, they could be thinking about doing this, which would be worrying.

      But, by registering a patent, they can make it a lot harder for anyone else to do it - and if they don't do it themselves, then it is a net win for consumers, in preventing such advertising.

  4. Not your bank balance, available credit by SuperKendall · · Score: 2, Informative

    Read the actual patent, it's talking about available credit, not your actual bank balance. The only times banks are mentioned is in reference to them being a potential source of credit.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  5. Dogbert's Guide to Conversational Geometry by Geoffrey.landis · · Score: 4, Funny

    http://dilbert.com/strip/1992-...

    --
    http://www.geoffreylandis.com
    1. Re:Dogbert's Guide to Conversational Geometry by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 3, Funny

      http://dilbert.com/strip/1992-...

      A quantum leap in 360 degree flips. I literally blew up when I read that. But I could care less

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    2. Re:Dogbert's Guide to Conversational Geometry by SJ · · Score: 3, Funny

      But I could care less

      That means you do care
      At least a little

    3. Re: Dogbert's Guide to Conversational Geometry by Samantha+Wright · · Score: 2

      Word criiiiiimes!

      --
      Bio questions? Ask me to start a Q&A journal. Computer analogies available for most topics!
  6. How can this be a patent? by SolarAxix · · Score: 5, Insightful

    From my perspective, there isn't anything truly innovative here. It's more like a business process that shouldn't be patentable. Banks already do some of this within their environments with targeted programs based on their customer's level of credit worthiness.

    What's so different between the banks and Apple? Whereas banks only do it based on certain marketing programs, Apple would/could be doing it at a transaction level instead. That being said, they are very similar in concepts.

    I think the bigger question is why can this be a patent?

    From a high-level perspective, it's just a bunch of APIs that are integrated together to get the job done. Put in another way, if someone decides to integrate a set of APIs together, can that be patentable? Should we start to have a patent lawyer on speed-dial if we link different APIs together? Maybe we need to submit patent applications for our new API mashups before someone else or a corporation does it.

  7. Re:On the other hand by zedaroca · · Score: 2

    The reality is way worst than that.
    Everybody will pay to use the patent, and you will pay apple even if you hate them and never buy their products.
    Just like you pay the tv "artists" even if you don't watch tv, because you drink coke, eat rice, wear adidas...

  8. Re:If Apple owns the patent by Wowsers · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Why is it even idea even patentable? It invents nothing.

    --
    Take Nobody's Word For It.
  9. Re:If Apple owns the patent by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    You do know Apple also has their own Ad agency right? That on iOS you HAVE to use their Ad agency to put ads in your apps. They are already selling your info and have been for a long time.

  10. Based on credit/balance, really? by ArcadeMan · · Score: 2

    Maybe the companies will start sending me money!

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  11. The Elephant in the room by sjames · · Score: 2

    What makes Apple think it would be any of their damned business what my available credit balance is?

  12. Re:If Apple owns the patent by Alumoi · · Score: 2

    It has the magic words 'on a computer'?

  13. Available credit on a debit card by tepples · · Score: 3, Interesting

    the patent is for available credit, not bank account balance.

    I thought if you were to query "available credit" on a debit card, you'd get the balance of the checking account it draws from.

  14. Unlike copyrights, patents expire. by tepples · · Score: 2

    Haven't you ever heard the conspiracy theories about stuff like Goodyear buying the patent for a 100,000 mile tire? Or GM buying the patent for a 100 mpg car?

    How old are those theories? If they're more than 20 years old, then they should be running into one key difference between patents and copyrights: Unlike copyrights, patents expire.

  15. George Orwell was wrong by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Big Brother is not the government but just a Harvard MBA.