I understand why people want to share their thoughts, status updates, pictures and everything else in between on Facebook. What I fail to understand is the idea of sharing your financial data via services like Blippy, Mint.com or Wesabe. The current security architecture seems so ripe for abuse and hacking it’s not funny. Blippy allows you to connect your credit card purchases to a social stream that ultimately can be piped into your Facebook newsfeed. Blippy had a security snafu back in April 2010 that revealed a handful of credit card numbers but the implications are that something bigger could be looming.
Wesabe just recently shutdown after burning through USD 5 million in VC money (Union Square Ventures backed). Even Wesabe thinks internet security is a big concern, below is what they have to say about security in their farewell letter:
…because Wesabe stores such highly sensitive data, continuing to operate the service with shoestring operations and security staff is not acceptable, and we do not want to continue accepting new accounts if we cannot guarantee the security level we believe our service requires.
The idea of aggregating all your financial data to some online website seems risky to me. At least in the US if there is a hack attack you can take the company to court and sue for damages. In India, good luck…imagine 26 years later the Union Carbide case is still going on and that case involves over 25,000 dead people.
Some people don’t care about securing their online financial data and that is fine…I do care. If we look at Mint.com which is a great service that I would never use, they should have an option where I can retain all my data locally. Then if I want Mint.com to analyze the data I can send it to them encrypted. Once they send me the results/advice via email they delete all my financial data from their servers all within minutes.
I think we are still in the early days of online data security and people have a carefree attitude about it. It will take one major security catastrophe to shake people and make them realize the security implications of “over-sharing” their financial data.
Ever wonder how much TV you watch, what are the most frequently watched programs, who do you call the most or when do you make most of your calls? Maybe I’m unique, but I’m surprised with all the technology I have no clear answers to those 4 questions.
This really is a guide for anyone living outside the five countries (US, France, Germany, UK and Japan) where the iPhone is currently available. But, since I’m based in Bombay it will be from my perspective.
While the US is currently dealing with the largest oil spill in history courtesy of BP. The Union Carbide (UC) disaster from 1984 is truly an Indian story. The accident took place in 1984 and estimates run as high as 25,000 people have died because of the gas leak and thousands more injured.


Last week at the Facebook Developers Conference (termed f8) they released a simple yet powerful feature called the Like button. In a single line of code any website can become part of the massive Facebook matrix instantly. Sites such as the Wall Street Journal are already serving up Like buttons and it adds a whole new dimension. Now when you see an article on cnn.com and notice some of friends Like an article, you can judge the social context of the article. Is the article “liked” by your business friends, family friends or friends that like tabloid trash.