Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

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.


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 2) by Unixnut on Wednesday May 24 2017, @04:05PM

    by Unixnut (5779) on Wednesday May 24 2017, @04:05PM (#514882)

    Lol, good to know. I always have the exact amount ready. I pre-calculate the cost, and while in line I prep cash and change, so that when it comes to my turn I just hand over the money and transaction completes successfully. If I don't have exact amount I usually let them keep the difference. Quite a few times I found them trying to overcharge me as well.

    And I got bags of change at home, which made it a pain when they decided to get rid of the £1 coin, I had to manually dig out every £1 coin in the bags and put them in a pile to use up. £63 in one pound coins I found. For a while I paid with everything in £1 coins only, the look on some cashiers faces was priceless XD

    Once the coin changes go through, I may well buy one of those coin sorting machines, so they can all be in nice piles. That would make me happy.

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2