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>, they managed to obtain a `PURCHASE` event from Macy's interesting.. they could use that to predict earnings..

• AznHisoka 7y ago
  A lot of hedge funds purchase credit card data to do exactly that.
• buckminster 7y ago
  Predict? Facebook buys earnings data directly from payroll companies.
• reaperducer 7y ago
  interesting.. they could use that to predict earnings.. A few years ago when Chipolte had its little food scare, Foursquare used its data to predict how much the restaurant chain's revenues would decline. IIRC, it was accurate to within 1%.
• cosmie 7y ago
  You don't even necessarily have to predict earnings. If you've ever connected to your financial account via a service like Plaid or it's ilk, that service has an API endpoint[1] they can call to neatly package up your income information. Sometimes it seems innocuous and unassuming for a one time use like identity verification, or to set up automated payments, or a one off transfer/disbursement. Other times it's for stuff like getting a consolidated view of your personal finance (i.e. a transaction aggregator such as Mint). But if you authenticate for anything, that service has access to everything. And unless you rotate your financial passwords on a frequent basis, that access continues pretty much indefinitely[2]. [1] https://plaid.com/products/income/ https://plaid.com/products/income/ [2] Not true for 100% of cases, but a general rule of thumb that's applicable to the majority of institutions they log into with your credentials.
  • alasdair_ 7y ago
    By “they” I assumed the GP was talking about Facebook being able to predict Macy’s earnings before they were publicly announced. That would be pretty interesting to see :)