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Why is this so creepy? They know a piece of hardware has been in certain locations for a certain amount of time. This data can help improve your shopping experi

Why is this so creepy? They know a piece of hardware has been in certain locations for a certain amount of time. This data can help improve your shopping experience and help the store better market to you. (While also increasing their sales). There is nothing personal about at MAC address go ahead and track it. Also... Yes keeping your phone in Airplane mode is a bit paranoid.

TheCraiggers 12y ago
Assuming they track every single purchase made at a store along with the credit card number used (or at least some form of ID associated with that particular card), and all the times the MACs left the store, how many sets of data do you think they need to get a 1:1 match between MAC and person? Even for really large stores, I'm guessing it would only take 2-3 visits before they can link you to POS records with decent accuracy. Once they have that, your MAC address becomes personal. They know what that MAC buys, how long they spend in the store, how much they spend in the store, how often they visit, etc. Couple that with the fact that with enough WiFi APs, you can triangulate a certain MAC to a specific location in the store, match with the cameras, etc. Probably track you to your car if they wanted with their satellites watching their parking lots. And then we get into the problems created when these stores either start sharing this info, or the vendor they hire to install their tracking system starts approaching full coverage of the nation / developed world. Keep in mind this isn't 'crazy future minority report' stuff. These are all things they are either doing now or could easily do now. All in all, it's just another damn piece of info about me that was once personal and now no longer is. "The amount of time Ben Reaves is spending looking at adult diapers is trending up. Flag their profile for incontinence."
- lsaferite 12y ago
  Mix that with a camera at each teller to do good facial capture for cash customers and cameras at the door scanning people coming in and it gets a bit creepier.
  - sitkack 12y ago
    You know what is really creepy, when the tellers and staff at a store are painfully happy and courteous. If feels like if I frown or show any irritation their neck detonator will go off.
- bcohen5055 12y ago
  Amazon, does this and it creates (for me) a better shopping experience. When I go to amazon it knows what things I want to buy and puts them right in front of me. Then it points me to other items that are related. Amazon knows precise,y what I look at and for how long before I buy it. Why is this good for online shopping and bad at a B&M store?
  - TheCraiggers 12y ago
    I think most people (including me) would probably agree that all this tracking creates a better shopping experience. Taken to its logical conclusion, eventually the stores will know what I want to buy before I even know I want it- they'll place it front and center in front of my face, said face will light up in sudden understanding that this is what I've been missing all my life, and money will exchange hands. Snark aside, I really do agree that this is a better shopping experience. But we're not just talking shopping experiences here- the data, algorithms, and extra tracking that fuels the (perhaps extreme) future I described above has costs, mostly in personal privacy. Maybe I don't want the conglomerates (and the government, since we all now know they've got their 'black boxes' in the datacenters) to know my penis size, how good my relationship with my father is, what medical conditions I have, and just about everything else one can think of. However, this is the future we're headed towards. Secondly, I think _greim_ said it very well in this post elsewhere in the thread: "Giving marketers deep psychological and behavioral insight increasingly enables them to circumvent rationality and "hack" consumers in various ways." There is a fine line, I think, between offering exceptional shopping experiences and manipulating your customers.
- maxmax 12y ago
  Just wait until they implement dynamic pricing.

TheCraiggers 12y ago

Assuming they track every single purchase made at a store along with the credit card number used (or at least some form of ID associated with that particular card), and all the times the MACs left the store, how many sets of data do you think they need to get a 1:1 match between MAC and person? Even for really large stores, I'm guessing it would only take 2-3 visits before they can link you to POS records with decent accuracy. Once they have that, your MAC address becomes personal. They know what that MAC buys, how long they spend in the store, how much they spend in the store, how often they visit, etc. Couple that with the fact that with enough WiFi APs, you can triangulate a certain MAC to a specific location in the store, match with the cameras, etc. Probably track you to your car if they wanted with their satellites watching their parking lots. And then we get into the problems created when these stores either start sharing this info, or the vendor they hire to install their tracking system starts approaching full coverage of the nation / developed world. Keep in mind this isn't 'crazy future minority report' stuff. These are all things they are either doing now or could easily do now. All in all, it's just another damn piece of info about me that was once personal and now no longer is. "The amount of time Ben Reaves is spending looking at adult diapers is trending up. Flag their profile for incontinence."

lsaferite 12y ago
Mix that with a camera at each teller to do good facial capture for cash customers and cameras at the door scanning people coming in and it gets a bit creepier.
- sitkack 12y ago
  You know what is really creepy, when the tellers and staff at a store are painfully happy and courteous. If feels like if I frown or show any irritation their neck detonator will go off.
bcohen5055 12y ago
Amazon, does this and it creates (for me) a better shopping experience. When I go to amazon it knows what things I want to buy and puts them right in front of me. Then it points me to other items that are related. Amazon knows precise,y what I look at and for how long before I buy it. Why is this good for online shopping and bad at a B&M store?
- TheCraiggers 12y ago
  I think most people (including me) would probably agree that all this tracking creates a better shopping experience. Taken to its logical conclusion, eventually the stores will know what I want to buy before I even know I want it- they'll place it front and center in front of my face, said face will light up in sudden understanding that this is what I've been missing all my life, and money will exchange hands. Snark aside, I really do agree that this is a better shopping experience. But we're not just talking shopping experiences here- the data, algorithms, and extra tracking that fuels the (perhaps extreme) future I described above has costs, mostly in personal privacy. Maybe I don't want the conglomerates (and the government, since we all now know they've got their 'black boxes' in the datacenters) to know my penis size, how good my relationship with my father is, what medical conditions I have, and just about everything else one can think of. However, this is the future we're headed towards. Secondly, I think _greim_ said it very well in this post elsewhere in the thread: "Giving marketers deep psychological and behavioral insight increasingly enables them to circumvent rationality and "hack" consumers in various ways." There is a fine line, I think, between offering exceptional shopping experiences and manipulating your customers.
maxmax 12y ago
Just wait until they implement dynamic pricing.