IMF, WEF, and related crony organisations, all ultra-globalist anti-privacy entities that want nothing more than to put people into modern day serfdom while only having "goodthink" and no "wrongthink".

Όταν δεν πληρώνεις για μια υπηρεσία, είσαι το προϊόν.

What happens to us folks who love to use our VPNs?

	

	

	

Your Credit Score Should Be Based on Your Web History, IMF Says

Photo: Philippe Huguen (Getty Images)

With more services than ever collecting your data, it’s easy to start asking why anyone should care about most of it. This is why. Because people start having ideas like this.

In a new blog post for the International Monetary Fund, four researchers presented their findings from a working paper that examines the current relationship between finance and tech as well as its potential future. Gazing into their crystal ball, the researchers see the possibility of using the data from your browsing, search, and purchase history to create a more accurate mechanism for determining the credit rating of an individual or business. They believe that this approach could result in greater lending to borrowers who would potentially be denied by traditional financial institutions.

At its heart, the paper is trying to wrestle with the dawning notion that the institutional banking system is facing a serious threat from tech companies like Google, Facebook, and Apple. The researchers identify two key areas in which this is true: Tech companies have greater access to soft-information, and messaging platforms can take the place of the physical locations that banks rely on for meeting with customers.

The concept of using your web history to inform credit ratings is framed around the notion that lenders rely on hard-data that might obscure the worthiness of a borrower or paint an unnecessarily dire picture during hard times. Citing soft-data points like “the type of browser and hardware used to access the internet, the history of online searches and purchases” that could be incorporated into evaluating a borrower, the researchers believe that when a lender has a more intimate relationship with the potential client’s history, they might be more willing to cut them some slack.

“Banks tend to cushion credit terms for their long-term customers during downturns,” the paper’s authors write. This is because they have a history and relationship with the customer. Now, imagine the kind of intimate history that Facebook could have with a borrower and suddenly its digital cash initiative starts to make more sense.

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But how would all this data be incorporated into credit ratings? Machine learning, of course. It’s black boxes all the way down.

The researchers acknowledge that there will be privacy and policy concerns related to incorporating this kind of soft-data into credit analysis. And they do little to explain how this might work in practice. The paper isn’t long, and it’s worth a read just to wrap your mind around some of the notions of fintech’s future and why everyone seems to want in on the payments game.

As it is, getting the really fine soft-data points would probably require companies like Facebook and Apple to loosen up their standards on linking unencrypted information with individual accounts. How they might share information would other institutions would be its own can of worms. And while the researchers sound bullish on the advantages that tech companies have over banks, they cite business-to-business lending as a game that traditional institutions continue to dominate. “This may change, however, due to the rise of cloud computing, which may enable large technology firms to create B2B ecosystems that include large corporate customers,” they write.

Yes, the idea of every move you make online feeding into your credit score is creepy. It may not even be possible in the near future. The IMF researchers stress that “governments should follow and carefully support the technological transition in finance. It is important to adjust policies accordingly and stay ahead of the curve.” When’s the last time a government did any of that?

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It should be the intent of every person not to have a credit score anyway.

If you’ve done things correctly, the only possible reason you need a credit score is to buy a home.

Should We Use Search History for Credit Scores? IMF Says Yes

Gazing into their crystal ball, the researchers see the possibility of using the data from your browsing, search, and purchase history to create a more accurate mechanism for determining the credit rating of an individual or business. They believe that this approach could result in greater lending to borrowers who would potentially be denied by traditional financial institutions.

This all sounds like big "nope" for me... I like neither privacy spying of web users, neither its utilization for ads targeting (which never worked well for me anyway) and/or dystopian social feedbacks of all kinds. Not to say, this system is principally flawed (i.e. perverted) in similar way, like usage of scientific journal impact factor for ranking the publication history of scientists. Impact factor was originally used by librarians for choosing journals for READING - not by scientists for PUBLISHING into them. Once we'll use the same metric for judging both inputs, both outputs, then the system will get positive feedback and it will become divergent and unstable.

their credit score: unjust, abusive and contrary to human rights

our credit score: democratic, diverse, opportunity opener.

Σημαντική η ιδιωτικότητα online, αλλά το πρόβλημα είναι και η πηγαία νοοτροπία από πίσω: utilitarian χρήση της τεχνολογίας για μαξιμουμ κέρδος, χωρίς άλλες αναστολές. Το λέω γιατί νομίζω ότι το πρόβλημα δεν είναι μόνο οι εταιρίες τεχνολογίας. Γενικά, μάλλον η νομοθεσία στο θέμα της online ιδιωτικότητας είναι πάρα πολύ πίσω.

Now just try to purchase some cryptocurrency. Your bank will ban you from credit for sure. And it means that what I am writing right now could decrease my credit score. Its happening guys. Be very cautious. Dark times are upon us.

Έχω βαρεθεί να απαντάω γιατί επιμένω στην ψευδωνυμία στο διαδίκτυο, γιατί δε χρησιμοποιώ προϊόντα της Google (στο βαθμό του εφικτού), γιατί απεχθάνομαι οτιδήποτε έχει σχέση με το φβ και τις συναφείς υπηρεσίες.

Και μετά έρχεται κάτι σαν κι αυτό.

With more services than ever collecting your data, it’s easy to start asking why anyone should care about most of it. This is why. Because people start having ideas like this.

As per usual with Gizmodo, misleading title.

At this point, I'm considering never buying a house (if I ever get chance) just to avoid being in any sort of debt to these invasive, authoritarian finance twats. I'm already debt free, might as well continue forever so they never have power over me.

I do struggle with thinking up an alternative to keeping my savings in bank accounts, however... any advice for me from our older and wiser collapsniks?

What the imf is saying is that firms like Facebook would track your searches and use it to evaluate risk, which isn’t bad imo.

And people call me paranoid for avoiding any Google service.

Holy shit

Impossible, how does IMF access my browsing history?

What. The. Actual. Flying. Fuck.

Not to be against what this says...cause I think this is yet another mess we are in BUT, I feel like Im already screwed. I have a disability and no health insurance. Our current credit system is screwing most of us either way

For fuck's sake.

This is the premise of an actual dystopian YA novel, “Feed”.

the past few years have seen a major power grab by google and facebook. we are still electing our governments, but more and more our lives are being governed by terms & conditions framed by autocratic mega-corporations instead and less and less by our national constitutions.

This is where I really start hating the future

Its like Communism without the nice red colors.

Are you saying I should google "what does z1p do?" before I buy ath?

So... Capitalist Seasme Credits?