Charlie Brooker's excellent Black Mirror has an unnerving habit of extrapolating believably sinister near-future scenarios from current day social trends. When the first episode titled The National Anthem aired a few years back the very concept of intimate relations between a Prime Minister and a farmyard animal was simply a plot device to satirise the desensitising influence of livestreamed horrors on our smartphones. Who could have predicted...
Don't put a 5 GT Turbo on Facebook Mike!
The first of the Netflix hosted new season - Nosedive - imagines a world where personal, professional and financial interactions are all dictated by our social media popularity ranking, those with a low score losing friends, jobs and access to goods and services. Recommended viewing it is too.
And news today that Admiral was to launch a new voluntary insurance assessment system called FirstCarQuote that would apparently use your Facebook profile to judge your personality and (therefore) risk level might make it seem rather prescient. Were it not for the fact Facebook has seemingly since told Admiral it won't permit the insurance firm to use such data.
It's a developing story and we're awaiting official comment from Admiral on the reports across the media that Facebook has effectively torpedoed the scheme. The launch page for FirstCarQuote and details of how it works are currently still on the Admiral website though. "There's a proven link between personality and how people drive, and our clever technology allows us to predict who is likely to be a safe driver," says the blurb. "We want to help make sure safe drivers aren't penalised and get the best price possible. To do this, we'll look at your Facebook profile to help us get a better understanding of the type of driver you are."
You thought black boxes and apps were intrusive...
The sinister side of this comes when Admiral says "we look at a driver's personality by analysing some of their Facebook data and if we see indicators that you will be a careful driver, we will give you a discount of between 5 and 15 per cent off the price you would get on admiral.com".
'Thin end of the wedge' conspiracy theorists will see this as the first step to an unholy alliance between social media channels and financial institutions that, as Black Mirror imagines, will see those who score unfavourably financially penalised or even locked out of daily life. Those less troubled by the idea simply see an innovation that helps young drivers get more affordable insurance, accepting that sharing data online or through black boxes is a necessary evil for getting on the road.
So, a humiliating slapdown for Admiral? Or some smart PR that has gained its brand top billing on broadcast media for a day through something that may prove little more than a marketing stunt? As you'd expect, these and all other angles of the story are being discussed in the PH forums already - join the chat here.