Facebook and Cisco Offer Check-In Service For Free Wifi 67
cagraham writes "According to TechCrunch, Facebook and Cisco are now expanding their joint "Facebook Wifi" program nationwide. The service directs customers who connect to a store's wifi to a landing page where they are encouraged to "check-in" to the business in order to be connected. While users can currently opt out of this and still be connected, the "skip this" button is noticeably difficult to find. The free software integrates with businesses existing routers and providers. Facebook provides reports to participating businesses as well, complete with anonymized aggregate data on the demographics of the customers who checked-in."
You Check In, Your Stuff Checks Out (Score:5, Interesting)
I bet career criminals love this new-ish trend of people voluntarily letting the world know when they are away from their homes and valuables.
Jim's Facebook Timeline -
8/17: Jim bought the newest 80" 3D flatscreen, here's a picture of it in the living room! WOW what a big picture!
9/23: Jim just got a new gold iPhone 5s! FTW!!!
9/28: Jim posted 264 photos taken with his Canon DSLR
10/1: Jim checked in at Bed, Bath, and Beyond to use their wifi! Hello World!
10/1: Jim just found out that while he was at BB&B this morning, somebody cleaned him out! Sad panda :(
Re:Let me get this straight... (Score:4, Interesting)
You've missed the point. This is for businesses that not only may monitor your wifi connection, but also demand that you advertise their business to all your facebook "friends" before they'll let you use it.
This is just one more way that facebook is enabling businesses to worm their way into your online life. Next step is to give the business you "checked in" with access to your profile data, so next time you're in their shop using their wifi, they can serve up their adverts targeted at you. Are you ready for creepy stalker adverts that know where you are, and what you should be buying there? Are you ready for those adverts appearing on the shop menu, visible to all? It's going to happen.
Don't want to use their wifi? How about if they gave discounts that can only be accessed through your facebook account while you're ordering your coffee? How about when those discounts become the de-facto actual price, and the usual price is more of a non-facebook excess fee? Still going to be the refusenik?
Companies would argue that this is all about knowing you better, to better give you what you want. But I say this is handing over to them every advantage the customer ever had in the transaction.