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If privacy is that important to you then just pay cash. Otherwise your credit card company, your bank, Facebook, Equifax, Google and the store itself among othe
by askafriend 9y ago
If privacy is that important to you then just pay cash. Otherwise your credit card company, your bank, Facebook, Equifax, Google and the store itself among others are all tracking you as much as possible across purchases in the physical retail world and across all your web traffic. All of these datapoints are being cross-correlated in a billion different ways.
"I'm not on Facebook" - oh yes you are. There's a shadow profile built of you even though you never signed up for Facebook. Same goes for Google, and many other services you never explicitly signed up for.
So now let's talk about cash. So you pay with cash and you think your privacy is preserved? Nope! The moment you walk in the store, the wifi beacons are tapping into your smartphone and adding to the internal profile the shop has of you. They know when you walked in the store, they know when you walked out, and they probably know enough to correlate your cash payment with your profile.
I'm sorry but that's the world we live in.
- ng12 9y agoAbsolutely. Every middleman in the chain is repackaging and selling your data.
- lstamour 9y agoWi-Fi beacons work only if you can connect to them on modern phone OSes, but yep, exactly my thinking. The price of free Wi-Fi: your privacy.
- dmoy 9y agoBunch of places near my work don't accept cash anymore (seems recent as of a year or so ago). Card only, no checks either.
- dman 9y agoIs this legal?
- ReverseCold 9y agoYes. Cash is only required to work for paying debt. The store can request whatever payment method they want.
- fossuser 9y agoI was curious how this was legal, but it looks like they're only required to accept cash as payment for debt. As long as no service is provided before you pay then it's legal to refuse cash.
- koancone 9y agoNot everyone has a smart phone. I don't. Believe it or not you are not required to have a smart phone function in the word. At best it is a pointless waste or time and money gadget at worst it is a tracking device and profile builder.
- mcovey 9y agoI've never had one, and it's as difficult for me to understand why people think they need one, as it is for them to understand how I survive without one.
- askafriend 9y agoYour comment is incredibly short sighted and is on par with saying "Having a computer is not required to function in the world, at best it is pointless....". For many people in the world, the smartphone is their only computer. For many people in the world, a smartphone is an invaluable tool that has been a driver of positive change. For many people in the world, a smartphone is required for them to make a living and put food on their family's table. Having a smartphone is on par with having access to the internet to economic success in many societies. Like the internet, yes the smartphone has a multitude of downsides that are well documented. But to throw the baby out with the bathwater and make sweeping statements like the one you've made is just wrong.