Let's say there's a guy names Jacob. This guy, he's 23 years old, has somewhat of a steady job, largely sales and maintenance for a nice apartment complex in southern California. He uses PayPal, a lot more than he would like. He also has a Facebook account and a MySpace page; he follows friends on Twitter (and sometimes updates his own status messages there). He has an iPhone 3G; he's on top of things. If he was ever hit by fraud, he would probably tell his friends about it.
You know what? The industry is missing on many of Jacob's friends. Not because they don't have credit cards or because they don't shop online - it's because we haven't changed with them. Why? Because Jacob doesn't mind - he doesn't mind his information being out there on the web (as long as it's kept with a privacy policy). He doesn't mind some interaction with risk controls because web 2.0 and post 9/11 safety education taught many users that it's ok to be asked questions by those with authority. And in the land of risk management online, we are the authority. And we are limiting our business. Jacob and his friends don’t mind working with us to make their lives better – we simply won’t let them.
You know what? The industry is missing on many of Jacob's friends. Not because they don't have credit cards or because they don't shop online - it's because we haven't changed with them. Why? Because Jacob doesn't mind - he doesn't mind his information being out there on the web (as long as it's kept with a privacy policy). He doesn't mind some interaction with risk controls because web 2.0 and post 9/11 safety education taught many users that it's ok to be asked questions by those with authority. And in the land of risk management online, we are the authority. And we are limiting our business. Jacob and his friends don’t mind working with us to make their lives better – we simply won’t let them.
