Here’s a commercial you will never see broadcast on TV:
The Opening Scene
A beautiful sunny day, and you see an attractive thirty-something person walking along a crowded marketplace with a couple of bags in their hand, smiling as they tap their mobile phone to a little device to pay for some items in a store. Upbeat, happy music playing in the background. The camera shows the phone’s lime green protective case with “Life is Good” quoted on it. Sipping on a drink, waving at some friends across the way as they walk along the promenade. They eventually reach their vehicle in a parking lot, gently toss the phone onto the passenger seat, place their bags in the backseat, slide into the drivers seat, and exhale with satisfaction from a fun afternoon out on the town.
The Jarring Reality Scene
The screen immediately goes black, and a loud record needle scratching across a record makes you jump unexpectedly.
Tense music fades in. A blurred picture of a person crying in their apartment comes into focus. They are pounding their keyboard keys while looking at their computer screen trying to sign into an online account, but are denied each time because (for security purposes) they need to enter a 6-digit code sent via SMS text to their phone.
Quick cut to this crying person, earlier that day without tears, putting away their items in a sling bag and leaving their table in a public coffee shop. The camera shot shows them walking away, then slowly pans down to their mobile phone still on the table. A mobile phone in a lime green case with “Life is Good” quoted on the back.
You realize they left their phone behind. The same phone a different person, the happy person in the first Marketplace scene, was using to purchase items.
Quick cut back to the crying person signing into their credit card’s online website and seeing hundreds of dollars in charges appearing on their statement. Close up on their head held in their hands with a look of despair, feeling powerless and not knowing what to do.
The Message
Large white letters: Access to your information should be easy (scratched out) convenient (scratched out) difficult to obtain. Then you see greymantechnology.substack.com in small letters at the bottom of the screen. #ShamelessPlug
The fine folks at Apple or Google will never air a commercial like this because, quite frankly, it doesn’t make you want to buy their product. Apple and Google do not acknowledge reality. They don’t acknowledge that phones are mistakenly left somewhere or stolen. They don’t acknowledge that someone other than you can be have to access your information as easily as you, depending how secure you have your phone set up.
Trading Convenience for Security
The specific area of information I’m referring to in this case is your phone’s mobile wallet app. Both Apple iPhones and Google Android phones have apps built-in available for easy setup. Just enter your debit/credit card information, and blammo, mobile payments tied to your AppleID or Google account. Some of you may be happily tapping your phone on mobile payments on a regular basis. Some of you might have learned that you can bypass the secure authentication layer (pin code, TouchID, FaceID) by double-clicking the home button on your phone to enable wallet pay from your lockscreen. One techy website even includes screenshots to visually show you how to enable this:
The problem is this…if you can simply double-click on your home button to pay for something…so can someone else if they get their mitts on your phone.
The Opportunity Cost
A lot can be purchased before you are able to contact your debit/credit card issuer to report fraudulent purchases, especially on a weekend.
A lot can happen to your financial savings before you are able to freeze that card number from future use.
A lot of life will occur as you have to wait for another card to be sent to you by mail. Five to seven business days in many cases.
A lot of purchases will have to be made (like food and gas) before you are able to activate the new card via phone or online website, and re-enter the card information in your (new?) phone’s mobile wallet app…and enter additional security settings to prove you are the actual owner of the Apple/Google account…especially since you don’t have your original phone which was associated with your account.
Thanks for your time in considering this message. I understand if you choose not to invite a downer like me to your next social gathering… :)