The goal of this system is to let the service collect fake data so that service provider may not exploit the users by inferring the habit of users.

Background

Since 2018, ripping off customers using Big-Data Analytics has been trending among online shopping platforms. To verify, borrow your friends’ online shopping accounts (including but not limited to general shopping platforms, food-delivery platforms, hotel reservation platforms, taxi calling platforms etc.) or register new accounts and search for the same goods. Check whether the prices (do not count discount tickets, only the listed prices are considered) are the same over all accounts you have. If there are differences of prices, this service provider is ripping off customers using Big-Data Analytics. Typically, the customers who get ripped off are old customers, because they would tend to think the price is increasing due to inflation, rather than a purposeful cheat.

Therefore, I am thinking about designing a system to provide protection over the cheat. Big-Data Neutralization System is intended to neutralize the threat from Big-Data Analytics.

Randomized Behavior

Your behavior on the platform is the data the service providers will collect, even including what product you have just viewed. Therefore, a good idea is to submit trash data to the service provider by using a bot program. The bot program will look into random products and pages. Please note that, by using Randomized Behavior, you can confuse the service provider with trash data, but you will also lose personalized experience.

This practice is also called Big-Data Poisoning in that you are giving service providers trash data.

Account Sharing

As previously mentioned in background section, different accounts may see different prices. Therefore, using a different account is the best method to mitigate price cheating from service provider. The extent of the sharing includes mostly everything but not addresses and payment methods. In other words, you are allowed to search and buy products using someone else’s accounts, who agreed to participate in this system, but you must pay with your own wallet and use your own address. In addition, purchase histories will be mutually hidden to each other as well: the lender won’t know what borrower bought and the borrower won’t know what lender bought.

The Risk of This System

This system, after all, will inflict detriments to the service providers if they are actually applying price cheating to profit. By participating this system, you will face the risk of account bans, or even lawsuit if applicable in your country.

This system provides account sharing mechanism. The service providers, in order to make profits, may fabricate unwanted orders and falsely accuse this system’s account sharing.

Regional Bounds of This System

This system must be built region-restricted, depending on the sovereignty. For example, British users can only use shared accounts from Britain; British users can’t use shared accounts from France, and vice versa.

The reason to restrict the system in regions is for the sake of sovereignty and citizenship justice. As previously mentioned in the risks section, service providers may fabricate unwanted orders in order to falsely accuse this system. The users will have to sue the service provider or this system in order to protect their rights. In judicial practice, this system will have to provide the records as evidence. However, the records are also considered privacies.

It is correct for the system to submit the records as evidence only if the service provider and the user are in the same region of sovereignty. However, if not, the records this system will submit may leak privacy to other sovereignties. This is a part of sovereignty and citizenship justice so the system must prioritize. As such, this system must be built region-restricted.

Conclusion

This blog introduced two ideas about mitigating the threats from Big-Data Analytics to our privacies. And also the risks the participants may face when using the system. Also, the regional bounds, for the sake of sovereignty and citizenship justice, of this system that must obey is discussed.