Peek-a-boo

It seems that internet privacy has become a "well debated" topic for the web industry, but not too much for final internet users. Facebook, has become one of the most important marketing channels by having really doubtful practices for internet privacy, still 500 million users seems to care less about the use of their private information.

Nowadays technology companies are trying to close a multichannel gap by bringing internet and other media close together, and for the first time I'll say that I applaud the effort of Internet Eyes, a British company that by using web users as sentinels is helping brick and mortar stores keep additional eyes on shoplifting.

Scary? Yes!, Powerful? Yes!, I would say that a little unorthodox for store managers not to use their own security personnel, but having an additional thousand pair of eyes to alert authorities of suspicious activities within a store should improve their loss prevention goals. Having someone looking over stores for them without the huge overhead of security teams doesn't seem to be such a bad idea, I can think of it as "commission based store security officer".

Could this solution help retailers and governments reduce the amount of shoplifting? ... If it's a collaborative effort I would say yes, otherwise it won't make a difference. Now the question is: How Internet Eyes can make their service a collaborative effort?

1. Internet Eyes shoplifters database: Can you image your name being recorded and shared to different stores? I imagine you'd think twice before trying to take a souvenir from a store.
   
   
2. Social Media integration: Some stores used to take the shoplifter in handcuffs and make him walk the store accompanied by an officer and the items they shoplifted - The Walk of Shame - Could you imagine if on the store's social media profiles the shoplifter's name, picture and recovered items make the headlines of their Facebook page and distributed on their Twitter account?
   
   
3. Internet Eyes name search: One of the main goals for the company is to reduce theft by employees, therefore, having the name search feature will allow employers to research your "shoplifting background", I'm pretty sure this will keep employees away from trying to get an unauthorized salary increase, and teenagers avoiding the "I shoplifted, I'm cool" factor.
   

I agree with the privacy agreement that the "sentinel" needs to comply, however, if the information they provided helped the store, I feel that the shoplifter's interaction with the store should be publicly available for the best of all of us.