Myware and Spyware 199
smooth wombat writes "A new startup aims to provide you with a piece of software that stores all of your sufing habits. Where you go, how long you stay, how many hours online you spend surfing, etc. Why? So you can then offer that information to companies in exchange for something of value. Seth Goldstein's company is in the early testing stages of a service called Root Vaults which right now only works with Firefox. You can choose whether to send this data to your Root Vault, some other service, or just store it on your computer. There are a few restrictions on the use of this data. From the article: 'Any company that uses this data must agree to four basic principles: the data is the property of the user, it can be moved from one service or device to another at will, it can be exchanged for something of value, and the user has the right to know who is using it and how.'"
Depends on the PRize (Score:3, Funny)
Re:right to know? (Score:5, Funny)
Its worth a free ipod (Score:5, Funny)
Make it up (Score:4, Funny)
Incoming! (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Depends on the PRize (Score:5, Funny)
I correct spelling and grammar on slashdot. It keeps me occupied. And you?
finally, software for sufis (Score:2, Funny)
As a whirling dervish [dankphotos.com], I've been looking forward to software to keep track of my total number of spins.
Re:Frequent Shopping Card @ Grocery Store (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Frequent Shopping Card @ Grocery Store (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Grocery stores do it too. (Score:3, Funny)
True, but you can fight back. For example, Safeway is currently collecting data on one 'Wombat Jones' of South Gnome Alaska. And to further confuse things, I trade these cards around with my friends as often as I can. If you pay cash, they cannot attach the shopping data to any real person, and you still get the discount.
The more they try to gather information about me, the more I feel obligated to isnure that it is incorrect. I don't object to them collecting sales information for stock control purposes, but as soon as they try to figure out who shopper #00023217002 is, I draw the line.