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I recently started seeing advertising related to products that I had purchased at a large US supermarket. I did some digging on the payment card networks and fo
by tkems 3y ago
I recently started seeing advertising related to products that I had purchased at a large US supermarket. I did some digging on the payment card networks and found that they are sent a lot more data that I realized. Level 3 data (the highest and most complete) sends product data about what you bought to the payment network (Visa, Mastercard, Amex, etc.). I have no idea what they do with this data and who they sell it to.
I love the protection of using credit cards, but if merchants go cashless, privacy goes with it.
- balderdash 3y agoCould you expand more on this I didn’t realize card networks actually got itemized data (e.g. $12.35 at the gas station was for a pack of cigarettes or some windshield wiper fluid and and some beef jerky)
- tkems 3y agoSure! I found this documentation from Clover (a payment processor like Square): https://docs.clover.com/docs/understanding-level-3-data https://docs.clover.com/docs/understanding-level-3-data The Level 3 data isn't sent from all merchants, but I have a feeling that larger ones pass along the info. I also was incorrect above, only Mastercard and Visa support level 3 data. However, level 2 data is widely supported and can contain some purchase info (Clover lists the SKU of an item for example).
- balderdash 3y agoThis is terrifying
- PeterisP 3y agoThey don't get it as a rule, and they didn't get it at all for a long time - that is optional data for which there is a standard where the terminal can send it if it is configured to do so; and some merchants are now sending it - probably there's some agreement where they get some financial benefit for doing so.
- Tarsul 3y agothere was recently an article about mastercard and its data hoarding/sharing: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37636071 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37636071