Technology

On the Web’s cutting edge, anonymity in name only

You may not know a company called [x+1] Inc., but it may well know a lot about you.

Federal News Network Staff

August 4, 2010 1:37 pm

< a min read

You may not know a company called [x+1] Inc., but it may well know a lot about you. From a single click on a web site, [x+1] correctly identified Carrie Isaac as a young Colorado Springs parent who lives on about $50,000 a year, shops at Wal-Mart and rents kids’ videos. The company deduced that Paul Boulifard, a Nashville architect, is childless, likes to travel and buys used cars. And [x+1] determined that Thomas Burney, a Colorado building contractor, is a skier with a college degree and looks like he has good credit. The Wall Street Journal reports that the company didn’t get every detail correct. But its ability to make snap assessments of individuals is accurate enough that Capital One Financial Corp. uses [x+1]’s calculations to instantly decide which credit cards to show first-time visitors to its website.

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