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Well, that's rather special -- GMail just offered me a new feature, which lets me attach *money* to an email. Not something that had ever occurred to me to want, but it's rather clever, and suddenly makes Google Wallet much more relevant. It finally gives them a leg up on PayPal and the rest of the pack. Any bets on how long it'll be before the lawsuits begin to fly, demanding API access so that other "wallet" services can be used here?
Mostly, though, I'm struck by the way this suddenly makes phishing scams (and money-based spam in general) more frictionless -- it now becomes easier to impulsively respond to an email by sending money. I give it a week, tops, before we start seeing spams telling woeful stories of how you can help a poor starving child by just sending $3 now -- it's quick and easy! And I bet it opens up whole new horizons for money laundering. I hope Google has enough staff laid on for all the regulatory fun they're likely to hit.
(Man, I really was working at Memento too long -- I've gotten remarkably cynical about anything involving money...)
Mostly, though, I'm struck by the way this suddenly makes phishing scams (and money-based spam in general) more frictionless -- it now becomes easier to impulsively respond to an email by sending money. I give it a week, tops, before we start seeing spams telling woeful stories of how you can help a poor starving child by just sending $3 now -- it's quick and easy! And I bet it opens up whole new horizons for money laundering. I hope Google has enough staff laid on for all the regulatory fun they're likely to hit.
(Man, I really was working at Memento too long -- I've gotten remarkably cynical about anything involving money...)