4 ms·

How is it possible to connect your browser to a credit card you used at a brick and mortar store?

by geoka9 10y ago

walterbell 10y ago
Data brokers like Axciom collect offline purchase transactions and have partnerships with Facebook, Google and others, http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/05/14/data-broker-acxiom-moves-to-tie-physical-world-to-online-data/ http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/05/14/data-broker-acxiom-mo...
- pmorici 10y ago
  It doesn't really say how exactly they are linking your real world purchase with your online identity.
- MichaelGG 10y ago
  From that link: > The company was censured by Facebook for the practice, which involved pulling data from apps against the social network’s rules. Sounds like they just ran an app and misused the API? Are FB and Google really allowing this kind of stuff? Random companies like United, meh I don't expect them to have much scruples. But Google and FB? Any info on which banks/companies do this? Does it happen with debit cards, too?
  - nstj 10y ago
    > Yes, Your Credit Card Company Is Selling Your Purchase Data To Online Advertisers[0] [0]: http://www.businessinsider.com/credit-cards-sell-purchase-data-to-advertisers-2013-4 http://www.businessinsider.com/credit-cards-sell-purchase-da...
    - MichaelGG 10y ago
      That's not even close. That's CC companies selling aggregated data. That generally won't identify a user, to link their CC purchase of a watch with watch related ads. (Unless they were the only customer in that region.) The link says MasterCard sells info on which ZIP codes have which purchases. That's extremely different than offering a cookie (or somehow identifying) to say "this guy bought a watch".
  - thoughtPolize 10y ago
    clearly you're not familiar with the advertising industry Target was able to use credit card purchase data to find out a girl was pregnant and send out marketing content, before her father knew she was pregnant...back in 2011. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/magazine/shopping-habits.html?_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/magazine/shopping-habits.h...
    - MichaelGG 10y ago
      They used their OWN data. I.e. purchases in their store. They buy other records to supplement. Can you point me to the quote in that article that says Target buys a list of purchases _from other merchants_ via the CC processor?
- mbesto 10y ago
  IIRC, they effectively hash your credit card name details and match the hash, against your profile in FB/Google/etc.
yborg 10y ago
Your CC has a home address. Your ISP geolocates your home connection to that address. You browse from home, everybody at the house now gets advertising tied to the purchase history of any cards with that home address.
nprescott 10y ago
It might not be quite so direct, but there are a number of ad-network companies focused on exactly this. It can work like: 1) Sign-up for a "rewards card" or mailing list at a store 2) Use a credit card with that account 3) That account is linked to that card within the network or sold to a network 4) The ad-network profile is then leveraged with a variety of e-commerce sites through cookies and the like 5) Purchases made online with those cookies are linked to purchase histories and profiles You can see how these network profiles are developed and interlinked until "spooky" things start happening. Following a consumer from brick and mortar stores to online is an advertising/e-commerce dream. I know several ad-networks are working towards developing graph databases linking profiles across devices.
nstj 10y ago
I always just assumed the card provider put a cookie on your browser when you logged in to their site (to check your bill e.g) and then sold part of this ID with the purchase history. Could be way off here though.

How is it possible to connect your browser to a credit card you used at a brick and mortar store?

by geoka9 10y ago

How is it possible to connect your browser to a credit card you used at a brick and mortar store?

Data brokers like Axciom collect offline purchase transactions and have partnerships with Facebook, Google and others, http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/05/14/data-broker-acxiom-moves-to-tie-physical-world-to-online-data/ http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/05/14/data-broker-acxiom-mo...

pmorici 10y ago
It doesn't really say how exactly they are linking your real world purchase with your online identity.
MichaelGG 10y ago
From that link: > The company was censured by Facebook for the practice, which involved pulling data from apps against the social network’s rules. Sounds like they just ran an app and misused the API? Are FB and Google really allowing this kind of stuff? Random companies like United, meh I don't expect them to have much scruples. But Google and FB? Any info on which banks/companies do this? Does it happen with debit cards, too?
- nstj 10y ago
  > Yes, Your Credit Card Company Is Selling Your Purchase Data To Online Advertisers[0] [0]: http://www.businessinsider.com/credit-cards-sell-purchase-data-to-advertisers-2013-4 http://www.businessinsider.com/credit-cards-sell-purchase-da...
  - MichaelGG 10y ago
    That's not even close. That's CC companies selling aggregated data. That generally won't identify a user, to link their CC purchase of a watch with watch related ads. (Unless they were the only customer in that region.) The link says MasterCard sells info on which ZIP codes have which purchases. That's extremely different than offering a cookie (or somehow identifying) to say "this guy bought a watch".
- thoughtPolize 10y ago
  clearly you're not familiar with the advertising industry Target was able to use credit card purchase data to find out a girl was pregnant and send out marketing content, before her father knew she was pregnant...back in 2011. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/magazine/shopping-habits.html?_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/magazine/shopping-habits.h...
  - MichaelGG 10y ago
    They used their OWN data. I.e. purchases in their store. They buy other records to supplement. Can you point me to the quote in that article that says Target buys a list of purchases _from other merchants_ via the CC processor?
mbesto 10y ago
IIRC, they effectively hash your credit card name details and match the hash, against your profile in FB/Google/etc.

yborg 10y ago

Your CC has a home address. Your ISP geolocates your home connection to that address. You browse from home, everybody at the house now gets advertising tied to the purchase history of any cards with that home address.

nprescott 10y ago

It might not be quite so direct, but there are a number of ad-network companies focused on exactly this. It can work like: 1) Sign-up for a "rewards card" or mailing list at a store 2) Use a credit card with that account 3) That account is linked to that card within the network or sold to a network 4) The ad-network profile is then leveraged with a variety of e-commerce sites through cookies and the like 5) Purchases made online with those cookies are linked to purchase histories and profiles You can see how these network profiles are developed and interlinked until "spooky" things start happening. Following a consumer from brick and mortar stores to online is an advertising/e-commerce dream. I know several ad-networks are working towards developing graph databases linking profiles across devices.

nstj 10y ago

I always just assumed the card provider put a cookie on your browser when you logged in to their site (to check your bill e.g) and then sold part of this ID with the purchase history. Could be way off here though.