{"id":77782,"date":"2015-08-06T18:12:53","date_gmt":"2015-08-06T22:12:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rbachnet.wwwmi3-ss40.a2hosted.com\/index.php\/"},"modified":"2021-08-11T18:01:06","modified_gmt":"2021-08-11T22:01:06","slug":"facebook-friends-without-benefits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rbach.net\/index.php\/facebook-friends-without-benefits\/","title":{"rendered":"Facebook Friends Without Benefits"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Facebook<\/a>The USPTO<\/a> has granted\u00a0Facebook<\/a><\/strong> (FB<\/a>) a patent<\/strong> that could be used to help lenders determine your creditworthiness<\/a><\/strong>. The Social Networker<\/a> plans to allow creditors to look at who is in your social network to judge your creditworthiness.<\/p>\n

\"bank<\/a>Business Insider<\/a><\/em> says<\/a> the patent would make it possible for banks to check the <\/strong>credit rating<\/strong><\/a> of the members of your Facebook<\/a> network to decide if you are worthy of a loan. It seems that your shiftless uncle Louie is going to determine if you get a mortgage. According to BI<\/em>, the patent states:<\/p>\n

\u2026 When an individual applies for a loan, the lender examines the credit ratings of members of the individual’s social network who are connected to the individual through authorized nodes. If the average credit rating of these members is at least a minimum credit score, the lender continues to process the loan application. Otherwise, the loan application is rejected.<\/em><\/p>\n

T\"Facebook<\/a>he patent was first discovered by Atlanta legal tech start-up SmartUp<\/a>\u00a0was part of a bundle of patents<\/a> Facebook<\/a> acquired in 2010 when it purchased the patents<\/strong> from failed social network Friendster<\/a>\u00a0for\u00a0$40 million.<\/p>\n

BI <\/em>reports that\u00a0the patent may walk a legal tight rope. The U.S. Equal Credit Opportunity Act<\/a><\/strong> requires creditors to tell applicants why they have been denied credit, so using social data to determine someone\u2019s credit risk could walk a fine line. Despite federal law, the author points out that financial institutions are already using applicant\u2019s social data to help verify their identity. For example, Lending Club<\/a>, and Affirm<\/a> use online data for decision-making.<\/p>\n

Rb-<\/strong><\/em>
\n Back in 2010, I wrote<\/a> about this day coming. <\/em><\/p>\n

Many banks are now outsourcing their social network data mining<\/a> operations to firms such as Rapleaf<\/a>.\u00a0(now TowerData<\/a>).<\/em><\/p>\n

Maybe it is time to un-friend your kid in college with no job and crazy aunt Patti in Paducah<\/a> and instead friend Warren Buffet<\/a>, Bill Gates<\/a>, and Mark Zuckerberg<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

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