5 ms·

I did read the article. That's discovering that someone is stalking you, until and unless you tell them you'd rather "opt out" even though you never "opted in"

I did read the article. That's discovering that someone is stalking you, until and unless you tell them you'd rather "opt out" even though you never "opted in" the evil stalking. Meanwhile, all shops and businesses you get near to or purchase from are calling the stalker to let him know what you're doing -- how do you "opt out" of these?

metafizikal 8y ago
On the other hand, most credit cards already sell transaction data to third parties.
- losteric 8y ago
  Hey at least the credit card companies are fully transparent - all that is clearly outlined in the 20-page size-3 font terms and conditions you signed up with! /s It's ridiculous that credit cards, the primary mode of online purchases and strongly preferred by physical retailers, is dominated by just two/three companies... all of which freely sell your purchase histories to other companies.
mattigames 8y ago
That's free market for you; meaning people with more money than you set up a system so even handling money itself costs you money and they also try to squeeze even more money doing shady things such as tracking your shopping patterns. This is the kind of stuff where the government should have a heavy hand on regulations (unfortunately the members of the government like anyone else are incentivized by money so guess who has a lot of it to "lobby" them.)
thaumaturgy 8y ago
Buy less stuff. It maybe isn't an ideal solution, but it has a lot of upsides. Advertisers (and ad middlemen like Google) bet that they can sell more stuff by drilling deeper and deeper into people's lives. But the bottom falls out of all that when people decide to opt out of large parts of the commercial ecosystem. Track your finances instead, the same way you would with a fitness app, and get that dopamine hit from seeing your savings increase. Feel secure in the knowledge that when the next major economic slump hits -- when, not if -- you'll be able to easily ride it out, maybe even enjoy a nice vacation at discounted rates. The massive growth of ad blockers was an immune response to the excesses of advertisers on the web. Commercial minimalism is the only way to respond to all this crap happening everywhere else.
- Moru 8y ago
  Or do like the germans that remember the old times of big brother watching you. Use cash. When I'm shopping it isn't just the old ladys digging deep and long in their purse for the exact change, almost everyone pays with cash.
  - 4ad 8y ago
    How do I pay with cash on amazon.com?
    - donarb 8y ago
      You can buy Amazon gift cards with cash anywhere like drug and grocery stores.
      - ocdtrekkie 8y ago
        However, you have other problems: If you have an account, or even a consistent shipping address, Amazon knows what you're buying. So you'd need to anonymize where you're shipping packages to, the names on those packages, and you'd need to register new Amazon accounts regularly with new email addresses to avoid them profiling your purchasing habits.
        reitanqild 8y ago
        > If you have an account, or even a consistent shipping address, Amazon knows what you're buying. Still a huge difference betwen that and the alternative where all three of: - Amazon - Google - and MasterCard knows what you've bought IMO.
        rapnie 8y ago
        This makes me wonder if there is a business model for 'anonymous proxy' companies, where you do the shopping at your favourite online webshops, but handle actual ordering, payment and final delivery to your home via the proxy company, who guarantee your privacy for a small additional fee, or subscription charge. Maybe this exists already. The difficulty would be in offering a good usability (how do you get that Amazon product you want in your local shopping basket).
DeepYogurt 8y ago
Pull money out at an ATM and pay for things with cash I guess. Not great, but it's an option.
- chiefalchemist 8y ago
  Do you think gift cards would shield you enough? I mean they can be tied to the card used to purchase. But are the data-mongers doing that?
  - mulmen 8y ago
    Gift cards can be purchased with cash.
- orbitingpluto 8y ago
  As long as you don't travel on a highway where the money will be seized by law enforcement by use of civil asset forfeiture due to your suspiciously carrying cash.
  - mrep 8y ago
    I believe that limit is $10,000 and you never use a credit card when spending that amount of money because the transaction fees are too high.
    - CynicalDio 8y ago
      The limit is not 10,000. There may be an official number where that starts happening but I have seen it happen (completely anecdotal) with amounts as low as $800.
      - mrep 8y ago
        Care to tell your story because that is totally fucked up if a cop took a measly $800 in cash from you?
tracker1 8y ago
Cash?

metafizikal 8y ago

On the other hand, most credit cards already sell transaction data to third parties.

losteric 8y ago
Hey at least the credit card companies are fully transparent - all that is clearly outlined in the 20-page size-3 font terms and conditions you signed up with! /s It's ridiculous that credit cards, the primary mode of online purchases and strongly preferred by physical retailers, is dominated by just two/three companies... all of which freely sell your purchase histories to other companies.

mattigames 8y ago

That's free market for you; meaning people with more money than you set up a system so even handling money itself costs you money and they also try to squeeze even more money doing shady things such as tracking your shopping patterns. This is the kind of stuff where the government should have a heavy hand on regulations (unfortunately the members of the government like anyone else are incentivized by money so guess who has a lot of it to "lobby" them.)

thaumaturgy 8y ago

Buy less stuff. It maybe isn't an ideal solution, but it has a lot of upsides. Advertisers (and ad middlemen like Google) bet that they can sell more stuff by drilling deeper and deeper into people's lives. But the bottom falls out of all that when people decide to opt out of large parts of the commercial ecosystem. Track your finances instead, the same way you would with a fitness app, and get that dopamine hit from seeing your savings increase. Feel secure in the knowledge that when the next major economic slump hits -- when, not if -- you'll be able to easily ride it out, maybe even enjoy a nice vacation at discounted rates. The massive growth of ad blockers was an immune response to the excesses of advertisers on the web. Commercial minimalism is the only way to respond to all this crap happening everywhere else.

Moru 8y ago
Or do like the germans that remember the old times of big brother watching you. Use cash. When I'm shopping it isn't just the old ladys digging deep and long in their purse for the exact change, almost everyone pays with cash.
- 4ad 8y ago
  How do I pay with cash on amazon.com?
  - donarb 8y ago
    You can buy Amazon gift cards with cash anywhere like drug and grocery stores.
    - ocdtrekkie 8y ago
      However, you have other problems: If you have an account, or even a consistent shipping address, Amazon knows what you're buying. So you'd need to anonymize where you're shipping packages to, the names on those packages, and you'd need to register new Amazon accounts regularly with new email addresses to avoid them profiling your purchasing habits.
      - reitanqild 8y ago
        > If you have an account, or even a consistent shipping address, Amazon knows what you're buying. Still a huge difference betwen that and the alternative where all three of: - Amazon - Google - and MasterCard knows what you've bought IMO.
      - rapnie 8y ago
        This makes me wonder if there is a business model for 'anonymous proxy' companies, where you do the shopping at your favourite online webshops, but handle actual ordering, payment and final delivery to your home via the proxy company, who guarantee your privacy for a small additional fee, or subscription charge. Maybe this exists already. The difficulty would be in offering a good usability (how do you get that Amazon product you want in your local shopping basket).

DeepYogurt 8y ago

Pull money out at an ATM and pay for things with cash I guess. Not great, but it's an option.

chiefalchemist 8y ago
Do you think gift cards would shield you enough? I mean they can be tied to the card used to purchase. But are the data-mongers doing that?
- mulmen 8y ago
  Gift cards can be purchased with cash.
orbitingpluto 8y ago
As long as you don't travel on a highway where the money will be seized by law enforcement by use of civil asset forfeiture due to your suspiciously carrying cash.
- mrep 8y ago
  I believe that limit is $10,000 and you never use a credit card when spending that amount of money because the transaction fees are too high.
  - CynicalDio 8y ago
    The limit is not 10,000. There may be an official number where that starts happening but I have seen it happen (completely anecdotal) with amounts as low as $800.
    - mrep 8y ago
      Care to tell your story because that is totally fucked up if a cop took a measly $800 in cash from you?

tracker1 8y ago

Cash?