Facebook advertising has always appealed to me. The amount of parameters you can filter users to display your ads to is so specific, you can really squeeze it down to your exact target demographic. e.g. Only to users that are over 18 (so they can pay for your service), under xx age (whichever age you expect people won't be interested), by interests (language learning!), by current location and birthplace (might be able to figure out some combinations that would be ideal for language learners. E.g. if they were born in the UK but living in France) and so on. It defaults to CPM, but I'd definitely go for CPC.
Out of interest, how easy would it be for you to adapt the system to manage the reputation for hotels, for example?
Doesn't sound like too much work given that you've said the system works on either web scraping or with API's of other review sites? Obviously you wouldn't want to jeopardize Bistro in it's current format through generalizing the platform for other "industries", but if done right, looks like a good opportunity to me!
Doesn't seem like much work at all to me, compared to creating random users.
Then again, maybe it's just me that isn't creative enough to be able to come up with names other than "Test User", "Another User", "Somebody Else", etc. :-p
Neat little API. Would be cool if there were a way to generate users with a particular locale - e.g. so I could generate UK users with UK addresses, telephone numbers, etc.
That's very true/a good point. Stale information would be a lot less useful to them though. i.e. Encrypted conversation between two terrorists happens today, attack happens tomorrow, NSA learn about their conversation 5 years later when it's economical to decrypt.
I know this is beside the point though. What I mean to say, is what can be done other than encryption and using tor-like networks for anonymity?
Nobody can be sure that they are/n't being watched, period. Heck, if it wasn't for Edward Snowden we'd still be none the wiser.
Whose to say there aren't dozens of other programs in place that aren't in the public eye?
It's not like you can even opt-out of holding accounts with large tech companies targeted by PRISM since it's easy for them to just tap your network traffic through ISPs.
As long as there is a government, nobody can be sure whether we are or aren't being watched. What 'fundamental change' could be made that would stop this?
It's not a short term solution if you scale the strength of the encryption against the 'cost' of decrypting it and the speed of the technology available.