Yeah but most of the companies that sell your info aren't payment processors / pseudo-banks that have direct access to your checking accounts, who you paid last month, how much, and for what. The implied value in Paypal rating your users is that Paypal can and will tell you their income level.
There are a few things wrong with Paypal doing this. Firstly, they're notorious for freezing any user account with more than $2-3k in it, without warning or reason, until you have a lawyer send them a letter. Hasn't happened to me, but it's happened to enough friends that I wouldn't trust them with more than a couple hundred bucks at a time. Sometimes for no reason other than that they logged on from an IP address Paypal had flagged previously for someone else's transgressions. We can leave Wikileaks out of this, but suffice to say that if Paypal has any reason whatsoever for seizing your funds, they'll be happy to do so and ask questions later. The fact that they don't adhere to any open standards and never reveal their reasons for freezing accounts should raise the question of who they are to be an independent arbiter of identity.
Secondly, consider the ramifications of walking into a store with your tax bracket printed on your t-shirt. This one's obvious to anyone that's spent time as an American in a third-world country...the price of Phở goes up by 300% right off the bat. There's no doubt the market wants to rid itself of inefficiencies by selling to every single consumer at the highest price she's willing to pay and not a dime less, but the ethical consequences are staggering.
I would never enter my paypal info for any reason, on any site, other than to submit a payment -- just like I wouldn't give them my bank account number or answer questions about my salary. I think many consumers would feel the same way.
There are a few things wrong with Paypal doing this. Firstly, they're notorious for freezing any user account with more than $2-3k in it, without warning or reason, until you have a lawyer send them a letter. Hasn't happened to me, but it's happened to enough friends that I wouldn't trust them with more than a couple hundred bucks at a time. Sometimes for no reason other than that they logged on from an IP address Paypal had flagged previously for someone else's transgressions. We can leave Wikileaks out of this, but suffice to say that if Paypal has any reason whatsoever for seizing your funds, they'll be happy to do so and ask questions later. The fact that they don't adhere to any open standards and never reveal their reasons for freezing accounts should raise the question of who they are to be an independent arbiter of identity.
Secondly, consider the ramifications of walking into a store with your tax bracket printed on your t-shirt. This one's obvious to anyone that's spent time as an American in a third-world country...the price of Phở goes up by 300% right off the bat. There's no doubt the market wants to rid itself of inefficiencies by selling to every single consumer at the highest price she's willing to pay and not a dime less, but the ethical consequences are staggering.
I would never enter my paypal info for any reason, on any site, other than to submit a payment -- just like I wouldn't give them my bank account number or answer questions about my salary. I think many consumers would feel the same way.