The distressing thing is how loyalty programmes have been hijacked. They used to be harmless, e.g. a printed business card and they punch holes: there wasn’t an

The distressing thing is how loyalty programmes have been hijacked. They used to be harmless, e.g. a printed business card and they punch holes: there wasn’t any or more than perfunctory tracking because doing more wasn’t viable. Simple and obvious: this card is a straightforward incentive to keep coming back, no strings attached. But now it’s all digital and all tracking and all mining, and most people don’t realise this or think through the implications.