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The grocery store sells everything I buy to who, and is that information personally identifying? This seems insane that me buying a brand of toothpaste could be
by andy_ppp 6y ago
The grocery store sells everything I buy to who, and is that information personally identifying? This seems insane that me buying a brand of toothpaste could be fed back into Google for more surveillance, but here we are.
- grecy 6y agoIt certainly is if you use any kind of reward or "points" card .
- Spivak 6y agoYep. That's why "loyalty cards" exist. Since they're not allowed to associate your purchases (or really any data) with your CC number to build a profile they give you a separate ID number that you key-in/scan when you buy things. "Oh but you don't have to use your loyalty card." Technically true but it's not "get a discount if you use your loyalty card" it's now "pay really inflated prices if you don't."
- wpietri 6y agoFor what it's worth, I know people share loyalty cards across large groups to mess this up. Me, I just eat the cost. Developing a "I will not play your games" has been great. I know people who absolutely obsess over gamified consumption (e.g., airline miles) and I'm glad to have the brain space for things that matter.
- andy_ppp 6y agoI have to say I think loyalty cards are a distraction, why can’t they just track my via my card info/Apple Pay? I mean the thing is literally a kind of unique identifier...
- _underfl0w_ 6y agoThis is already happening, only it's the credit card company doing the tracking and not to grocery store.