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posted by martyb on Wednesday May 24 2017, @01:44PM   Printer-friendly
from the all-your-data-are-belong-to-us. dept.

The Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2017/05/23/google-now-knows-when-you-are-at-a-cash-register-and-how-much-you-are-spending/ reports that Google has talked retailers into sharing data from credit card transactions, which it will link to location and other data, to further enhance consumer profiling*.

The article says "Google for years has been mining location data from Google Maps in an effort to prove that knowledge of people's physical locations could "close the loop" between physical and digital worlds. Users can block this by adjusting the settings on smartphones, but few do so, say privacy experts.

This location tracking ability has allowed Google to send reports to retailers telling them, for example, whether people who saw an ad for a lawn mower later visited or passed by a Home Depot. The location-tracking program has grown since it was first launched with only a handful of retailers. Home Depot, Express, Nissan, and Sephora have participated."

* and erode privacy.

The article also makes it clear than consumers don't get to opt-out, if they even find out their data has been shared.


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  • (Score: 4, Informative) by AthanasiusKircher on Wednesday May 24 2017, @03:59PM (4 children)

    by AthanasiusKircher (5291) on Wednesday May 24 2017, @03:59PM (#514876) Journal

    It was only when I pointed out to them that cash is legal tender and that they can't refuse it

    That's a common misunderstanding of the term legal tender [wikipedia.org]. In most places, "legal tender" merely means that cash must be accepted for payment of debt only. In other words, if you took the beer on credit from the store, and later came to settle your debt, the store must accept cash payment as an option. If they refuse and try to sue you, the court will say that they need to accept cash payment for a debt.

    I don't know where you're based, but in the U.S. (and many other countries), there's no obligation for a merchant to accept cash for a transaction that has not been completed. Since you didn't leave the store with merchandise, no debt exists yet. They can put up a sign saying, "We only accept payment in goats," and that would be perfectly legal. Sale contracts between parties that don't involve cash happen legally all the time. They're uncommon at retail establishments, mostly for tax reasons -- because if you operated a barter store that only accepted goats as payment, you'd still have to appraise the value of every transaction in dollars to pay your taxes.

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  • (Score: 2) by bootsy on Wednesday May 24 2017, @05:03PM (2 children)

    by bootsy (3440) on Wednesday May 24 2017, @05:03PM (#514943)

    In the UK this is termed an "Invitation to Treat".

    The shop is offering you the chance to offer a trade with them but they can still say no.

    Unless you can prove they are discriminating against you due to race, sex, disability, sexual orientation etc then they are allowed to refuse to sell to you if they wish.

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Bot on Wednesday May 24 2017, @09:23PM (1 child)

      by Bot (3902) on Wednesday May 24 2017, @09:23PM (#515123) Journal

      1. Start a religious order which forbids anything but cash.
      2. Sue for discrimination when denied transaction.
      3. there is no point 3
      4. PROFIT!!!

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      Account abandoned.
      • (Score: 2) by Bot on Friday May 26 2017, @05:54AM

        by Bot (3902) on Friday May 26 2017, @05:54AM (#515848) Journal

        Oh wait, my AI factoid graph had not dug up this:

        It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name

        So, apparently, Christian religion cannot accept being forced to abandon cash, and for some interpretations the mark of the beast is already your personal identification ID wrt the tax system.

        Now, given that Christians should not accept usury either, I think I won't see a full scale rebellion. They should really be more fundamentalists about all this.

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        Account abandoned.
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 24 2017, @06:23PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 24 2017, @06:23PM (#514997)

    Looks like it's time for a new law, then. I'm sure the US government, which desperately wants access to as much data about us as possible, will get right on that.