hijacking metadata
Hijacking Metadata - Comet cursor has signed a deal to pop up a window showing Orbitz fares whenever a user searches Expedia or Travelocity for fares. Orbitz claims that this is no different than Expedia or Travelocity paying search engines for prominent listing. But this is, in fact, remarkably different. When a user searches on a search engine for “cheap airfare”, they are probably not looking for a particular service. But when they go to expedia.com, there is a pretty good chance that they really want to go to expedia.com. Furthermore, one could see this as an invasion of privacy. Does the man looking for tickets to Paris during the time he is supposed to be at a conference in Los Angeles really want Orbitz to know about his travel plans? Does he really want his system’s browser cache to contain evidence of his fare search beyond that which he’s expecting from expedia? Admittedly, this scenario is a stretch, but Comet Cursor is definitely taking some significant steps forward in the use of metadata. This goes significantly beyond what google or Microsoft Smart Tags have done in the past, and is even more invasive than gator. People are sure to complain. Such a thing would likely not have even been considered had x10.com not numbed our minds to pop-up and pop-under ads. With all of that said, you might be surprised to know that I am very happy to see such a kick-ass new development in metadata land. Larger companies like IBM or Microsoft could probably never get away with selling the rights to users’ metadata like that, but the use of metadata on the web evolves with smaller, more daring companies like comet cursor. As a consumer and clue-train reader, I find this particular example to be of concern. But as a techie and true believer of the semantic web’s potential, I find it just plain wonderful.