I don't think that the discrete billing entity name thing really works to this effect, unless you're spending a very small dollar amount on porn and someone skimming your bill is specifically looking to differentiate large transactions visually with no other criteria in mind or subconsciously.
It's done because it's _better_ to have it than not to have it. People would rather take their chances with "ENTERTAINMENT INSIGHTS MERCHANT TMNL 059952E"[1], or "BUSTY LATINAS XXX?"
However, if your goal is seriously to prevent your significant other, who has access to your statements to some degree or another, from catching wind of this, you can still always be left in a difficult position:
- "What is this $47.95 charge?"
And you have to explain it - somehow.
- "Oh, yeah, that's just the new clamp on the radiator hose," you stammer unconsciously, arousing suspicion to begin with from anyone with a modicum of attention span and just a dabble more emotional and social acuity than a certifiable clinical sociopath.
- From "ENTERTAINMENT INSIGHTS?"
Right.
Besides, if the counterparty gets curious, these discrete billing names are often posted in inconspicuous places on Googleable public pages: "Sign up with us today! There's no risk, cancel any time within the first 30 days, and we bill discretely. Your charges will show up under the name 'ENTERTAINMENT INSIGHTS.'" If nothing else, there will be forum posts from other curious wives and girlfriends asking, "I saw this 'ENTERTAINMENT INSIGHTS' charge on my husband's credit card statement when it came in the mail! Can anyone tell me what this is?"
No, that's just not going to work in the long run. It's just a numbers game at that point, which, to be fair, everything is, but it's a matter of degree.
Seriously, though, I don't mean to sound righteous, unearnestly over-enthusiastic, or brand myself a person of conspicuously dubious ethics. But as Shaggy said, "To be a true playa you got to know how to play."[2][3] Far it be from me to condone these actions. Academically speaking, however, _IF_ you _ARE_ going to purchase these kinds of items with the aforementioned constraints: strong passwords, nothing shared, no personal finance administration or planning coinvolvement, no paper statements. Establish yourself from the get-go as a modern prenuptial agreement-seeking Economic Man. Wear a John Galt shirt. Enthusiastically rejoice over neoliberal IMF austerity measures and World Bank currency crisis interventions hinged on axing Third World social spending. Subscribe to Reason magazine. Gush about innovative free-market solutions to commonplace problems hitherto not conceived in pecuniary terms, if only the myopic bureaucrats would just see. Insist that each party to this equitable relationship of mutual exchange handle their own financial business in the name of a vaguely plausible--if quirky--ideological veneer, because first your wife came for your bank statements [...] and when the Feds came for them, who was left to so much as let out a lonely whimper in the darkness for you? Choose a bank specifically for their unwillingness to send paper statements in the name of environmental excellence and low costs, because negative externalities can't go on unchecked forever.
[1] I just made that up. Apologies to anyone that actually bills under this name. :-)
[3] Of course, there is the somewhat persuasive view that if you're a true "playa," you aren't busy signing up for porn sites by the glow of a monitor. But that doesn't fit with the rhetorical purpose of my invocation of the lyrics.
It's done because it's _better_ to have it than not to have it. People would rather take their chances with "ENTERTAINMENT INSIGHTS MERCHANT TMNL 059952E"[1], or "BUSTY LATINAS XXX?"
However, if your goal is seriously to prevent your significant other, who has access to your statements to some degree or another, from catching wind of this, you can still always be left in a difficult position:
- "What is this $47.95 charge?"
And you have to explain it - somehow.
- "Oh, yeah, that's just the new clamp on the radiator hose," you stammer unconsciously, arousing suspicion to begin with from anyone with a modicum of attention span and just a dabble more emotional and social acuity than a certifiable clinical sociopath.
- From "ENTERTAINMENT INSIGHTS?"
Right.
Besides, if the counterparty gets curious, these discrete billing names are often posted in inconspicuous places on Googleable public pages: "Sign up with us today! There's no risk, cancel any time within the first 30 days, and we bill discretely. Your charges will show up under the name 'ENTERTAINMENT INSIGHTS.'" If nothing else, there will be forum posts from other curious wives and girlfriends asking, "I saw this 'ENTERTAINMENT INSIGHTS' charge on my husband's credit card statement when it came in the mail! Can anyone tell me what this is?"
No, that's just not going to work in the long run. It's just a numbers game at that point, which, to be fair, everything is, but it's a matter of degree.
Seriously, though, I don't mean to sound righteous, unearnestly over-enthusiastic, or brand myself a person of conspicuously dubious ethics. But as Shaggy said, "To be a true playa you got to know how to play."[2][3] Far it be from me to condone these actions. Academically speaking, however, _IF_ you _ARE_ going to purchase these kinds of items with the aforementioned constraints: strong passwords, nothing shared, no personal finance administration or planning coinvolvement, no paper statements. Establish yourself from the get-go as a modern prenuptial agreement-seeking Economic Man. Wear a John Galt shirt. Enthusiastically rejoice over neoliberal IMF austerity measures and World Bank currency crisis interventions hinged on axing Third World social spending. Subscribe to Reason magazine. Gush about innovative free-market solutions to commonplace problems hitherto not conceived in pecuniary terms, if only the myopic bureaucrats would just see. Insist that each party to this equitable relationship of mutual exchange handle their own financial business in the name of a vaguely plausible--if quirky--ideological veneer, because first your wife came for your bank statements [...] and when the Feds came for them, who was left to so much as let out a lonely whimper in the darkness for you? Choose a bank specifically for their unwillingness to send paper statements in the name of environmental excellence and low costs, because negative externalities can't go on unchecked forever.
[1] I just made that up. Apologies to anyone that actually bills under this name. :-)
[2] http://www.lyrics007.com/Shaggy%20Lyrics/It%20Wasnt%20Me%20L...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQ4axo9rmJY
[3] Of course, there is the somewhat persuasive view that if you're a true "playa," you aren't busy signing up for porn sites by the glow of a monitor. But that doesn't fit with the rhetorical purpose of my invocation of the lyrics.