When you have a rollercoaster year like 2017, it must be hard being Santa Claus.

Who’s good, who’s bad. Who was good and is now bad, or vice versa. Who is sorta good and sorta bad.

Of course, he’s not one to complain about such a dream job. While his crowd-sourced community of elves and parents keep track of potential gift recipients all year — without cookies or mobile device IDs! — he only has to show up for work one day a year. (Well, technically, one night.)

And who could whine about rewarding good folks and spiking the others? It’s hard to imagine that Santa’s job satisfaction could get any higher.

But the price of knowing everything about everybody is managing all that data, which covers you like a snowstorm at the North Pole. So, as we’ve done last year and in 2015, we again filter the data to help the Big Guy segment the Naughty from the Nice in marketing, advertising and search.

NAUGHTY

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai

This former Verizon legal counsel has apparently decided that he wants to be remembered as the guy who turned the most even playing field in the history of information, marketing and commerce into a non-net neutrality landscape of gated communities, fast and slow lanes and tar pits.

When next year’s “Nice and Naughty” list rolls around, it remains to be seen if there is still an “internet,” or if it has broken down into an archipelago of fiefdoms and ISP-owned territory. If so, we may have to create a “Beyond Naughty” category just for Pai.

[Read the full article on MarTech Today.]

About The Author

Barry Levine

Barry Levine covers marketing technology for Third Door Media. Previously, he covered this space as a Senior Writer for VentureBeat, and he has written about these and other tech subjects for such publications as CMSWire and NewsFactor. He founded and led the web site/unit at PBS station Thirteen/WNET; worked as an online Senior Producer/writer for Viacom; created a successful interactive game, PLAY IT BY EAR: The First CD Game; founded and led an independent film showcase, CENTER SCREEN, based at Harvard and M.I.T.; and served over five years as a consultant to the M.I.T. Media Lab. You can find him at LinkedIn, and on Twitter at xBarryLevine.