iKleek is a simple service: You just sign up, and iKleek will monitor every bit of traffic flowing in and out of your computer and then automatically broadcast your every virtual move to the world.The Associated Press
We here at Globe Tech HQ are ashamed to admit we've never actually played World of Warcraft. Is it anything like Galaga? We really like Galaga.
But something interesting is happening over at Blizzard, the company responsible for the game that has consumed the lives and dimmed the employment prospects of many a 35-year-old basement dweller. Anyone who wants to post a message in Blizzard's official forums will now have to use their real name. The thinking behind this move is that people are much less likely to engage in Orc-unfriendly talk if everyone knows who they are.
(World of Warcraft has Orcs, right?)
Blizzard is by no means the only tech giant to rage against anonymity. Facebook has built its entire business model on getting people to disclose who they really are and that has worked out pretty well. In fact, we're pretty sure that, despite some angry users, most of Warcraft's 11-million subscribers who hang out on the Blizzard forums will still be there after this change. When you spend 20 hours a day online arguing about the effectiveness of the "Horde of Squirrels" spell, what are you going to do to protest, go outside?
(World of Warcraft has hordes of squirrels, right?)
It seems the days of anonymity and privacy on the Web are coming to an end. In covering technology, we've noticed two distinct trends to support this. First, sharing is the new black. There is no personal detail so minor that somebody won't take the time to tell the Internet about it. Consider Facebook, Twitter, Myspace and, of course, Blippy.
Second, a new generation of Web users has a much different notion of what privacy means. There once was a time when politicians wouldn't dare admit they smoked weed in college, for fear of destroying their political careers - now, we largely don't care. When today's teens are old enough to run for office, expect a similar shift to take place, only with naked cell-phone videos instead of weed.
None of this is especially new, but with those two trends in mind, we got to thinking: there's the potential for a serious money-making business here.
Why isn't there a Blippy for personal Web traffic?
For those of you who don't know what Blippy is, it's basically a Web service that takes your credit card info and then broadcasts your purchases to the world. Yeah, we know, but for some reason thousands of people seem to use it.
But what if your credit card purchases don't really reflect who you are? What if you want something more personal? What if you want everyone to know in real-time exactly what you're doing online, at any given moment, automatically?
Thus, we proudly propose: iKleek (Patent pending). It's a simple service - you just sign up, and iKleek will monitor every bit of traffic flowing in and out of your computer. It will then automatically broadcast your every virtual move to the world, thusly:
- CoolGuy667 has is visiting Style.com, spending 3 minutes viewing "10 Must-Buy Lobster Bibs for the Summer Season"
- CoolGuy667 is currently downloading "Biggest Loser Season 2 Blooper Reel" via BitTorrent (3 seeds, 25,097 leechers)
- CoolGuy667 is streaming "Acoustic Vuvuzela Radio" via iTunes (ongoing: 2hrs, 35min)
Of course, other users would be able to comment on all these updates, and everything will be automatically hyperlinked, so everyone can check out what their friends are looking at. And unlike Facebook, which changed its privacy policies over the years, iKleek users will know from the outset that this is the least private service you can use short of hiring a guy to yell out your medical history from the rooftops.
Still, we know some of you are thinking, "This will never work. It's a privacy nightmare!" To that we say:
- Yes. Yes it is. But...
- We already know that people will gladly hand over their most personal info to a website without thinking twice. Surely there are folks who don't give a damn about privacy and can't wait to let the world know how prolific/obscure/awesome their Web surfing is. Also...
- It wouldn't be difficult to let users click a button to turn the service off every time they want to check out porn or consult a bomb-making guide or something. More importantly...
- Think of the money-making potential! Advertisers will pay billions to get a granular, real-time look at your surfing habits. Let's say you download some album via BitTorrent. Suddenly, an ad pops up via iKleek from a major record label saying, "Hey, how would you like a totally free download of whatever 16-year-old, auto-tuned train wreck we're marketing this week? We noticed you really like this kind of bland, mass-market crap."
Granted, they would probably phrase the ad differently, but the result would be the same: a much better method of hyping your product and building customer relationships, without suing the hell out of everybody.
iKleek will almost certainly have to include a lengthy license agreement for both advertisers and users. The former will have to agree not to use any traffic information against users, and the latter will have to agree not to download anything illegal. Both parties will of course violate those agreements, but iKleek will at least be somewhat legally insulated. iKleek can also keep specific data away from advertisers, so if you want to target your ads at users with specific Web habits, you can, but you won't know who they are.
It'll all likely end in a huge courtroom mess, but hey, Google gets dragged to court all the time, and they're doing okay.
Budding Internet entrepreneurs, take note: within two years, we predict someone will design this service, and make a barrel of cash in the process. It could be you. We generously release iKleek as an open-source business idea - you are under no obligation to give us credit for it.
In fact, it would be great if you didn't give us credit for it, at all, ever.