Identity…The Road to Hell

  • Posted by
  • on August 28th, 2011

A lot of people know who I am.

I bleed on my blog. It resonates with people. If it bores you, you never come back. No harm no foul.

I get news, laugh, share, banter, ask questions on Twitter. I get insane value.

I share my passion for stocks and markets on Stocktwits. I discover unique talent. I get smarter. I make great friends. Again…insane value.

With Stocktwits and Twitter, the more I put in, the more I get out.

Instagram is the latest service, the first mobile only one, that fascinates me and is helping me discover some new people, talent and hopefully…friends.

A lot of companies that I DON’T want to know me, make all the money by supposedly knowing me better than anyone. Equifax, Transunion, Experian and Google. I only trust Google for the moment. I just had the horrific experience of getting a home loan. The garbage that has filled my inbox and mailbox is pathetic. It’s a crime. Worse…it’s unstoppable. The only way to deal with it is to ignore everything and hope something imporrtant is not missed in the pile of shit. Sadly, the credit companies sell your name and don’t even give you a loan. It is the most broken industry in America and it is all based on the best identity information one could have at the moment.

The one piece missing from this idenity puzzle is CONTEXT. Those services that can provide it in the decades ahead, will rule.

Fred Wilson has a post up today entitled ‘Google + is an Identity Service‘ and a great discussion as well. Read it. I commented on the post with the following:

At Stocktwits we are learning in finance that if you force people to use their real name, they just wont. It’s the ideas and the timeline…I hate to keep repeating it, but it is not rocket science. Facebook has won the identity war. Experian won it before. Let ‘em have it, it is a road to hell anyways.

I believe the killer app in the history of the web is Bloomberg Chat because it helps Bloomberg collect $2,000 per month from people and people use their real names. Nothing comes close. On the free side, AngelList is my favorite network that has real identities, but it is a closed network.

Other than the extreme vertical of Finance, I believe identity can’t be forced at the moment. I believe that sites that claim they have the most information on one’s identity are the ones most full of shit and furthest away. They may print money like Experian and Transunion et al, but they are piles of steaming shit with respect to what matters most…value and my time!

The banks may be ‘Too Big To Fail’, but I am excited for the destruction coming to Experian, Transunion and Equifax. It is upsetting to see so much focus on Google and Facebook when it is these big three that continue to bully America.

The information in this blog post represents my own opinions and does not contain a recommendation for any particular security or investment. I or my affiliates may hold positions or other interests in securities mentioned in the Blog, please see my Disclaimer page for my full disclaimer.

blog comments powered by Disqus