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Google’s new program to track shoppers sparks a federal privacy complaint

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Google’s new program to track shoppers sparks a federal privacy complaint

#11

Post by robteix »

CivilianZero wrote: post #8

Try as I might, I just can't be bothered to care if someone wants to know what I've been buying so they can show me advertisements relevant to my interests. But I'm weird, I don't think advertising is inherently evil or annoying.

To be honest, I don't either. But the data is still there. You don't know if in ten years Google is going to start losing money and is forced (by its shareholders) to find alternative means of monetization.

You can't really say Google is perfectly secure and will never ever ever be hacked and leak your data either. Maybe it will never happen, maybe it will.

Therefore I believe I should have the right to say "hey, I don't want this private corporation to have my credit info".

Re: Google’s new program to track shoppers sparks a federal privacy complaint

#12

Post by QAPereo »

robteix wrote: post #11
CivilianZero wrote: post #8

Try as I might, I just can't be bothered to care if someone wants to know what I've been buying so they can show me advertisements relevant to my interests. But I'm weird, I don't think advertising is inherently evil or annoying.

To be honest, I don't either. But the data is still there. You don't know if in ten years Google is going to start losing money and is forced (by its shareholders) to find alternative means of monetization. You can't really say Google is perfectly secure and will never ever ever be hacked and leak your data either. Maybe it will never happen, maybe it will. Therefore I believe I should have the right to say "hey, I d…

Or potentially worse, if they're compromised/hacked in some way and that data simply enters the wild ecosystem.

Re: Google’s new program to track shoppers sparks a federal privacy complaint

#13

Post by Spivak »

CivilianZero wrote: post #8

Try as I might, I just can't be bothered to care if someone wants to know what I've been buying so they can show me advertisements relevant to my interests. But I'm weird, I don't think advertising is inherently evil or annoying.

Do you want it to be sold to your insurance company? We see that you're a regular coffee drinker which is correlated with increased risk of heart problems -- here's a rate increase.

Re: Google’s new program to track shoppers sparks a federal privacy complaint

#14

Post by trendia »

DannyBee wrote: post #4

Unfortunately, credit card companies/banks/etc have been selling purchasing histories, to pretty much all comers, for years. It'd be really nice if we could stop that instead of caring about the particular people they sell it to. IE It's not "better" when they sell it to someone who isn't Google, and I honestly could't give a crap about the complaint, which mostly deals with antitrust.

Visa is working to prevent people from using cash in stores [0]. Currently, they are merely giving merchants an incentive to change, but in the future they may use their immense lobbying power to get preferential legislation enacted.

Once cash is gone:

1. your purchases will be available to any company willing to pay for it, and

2. Visa will get a de facto "tax" on all transactions (through 1-2% merchant fees)

[0] https://www.wsj.com/articles/visa-takes-war-on-cash-to-resta...

Re: Google’s new program to track shoppers sparks a federal privacy complaint

#15

Post by Eridrus »

Spivak wrote: post #13
CivilianZero wrote: post #8

Try as I might, I just can't be bothered to care if someone wants to know what I've been buying so they can show me advertisements relevant to my interests. But I'm weird, I don't think advertising is inherently evil or annoying.

Do you want it to be sold to your insurance company? We see that you're a regular coffee drinker which is correlated with increased risk of heart problems -- here's a rate increase.

Maybe we'll get universal healthcare at some point and people will stop rolling out this tired argument.

Re: Google’s new program to track shoppers sparks a federal privacy complaint

#16

Post by slobotron »

Spivak wrote: post #13
CivilianZero wrote: post #8

Try as I might, I just can't be bothered to care if someone wants to know what I've been buying so they can show me advertisements relevant to my interests. But I'm weird, I don't think advertising is inherently evil or annoying.

Do you want it to be sold to your insurance company? We see that you're a regular coffee drinker which is correlated with increased risk of heart problems -- here's a rate increase.

In general, why should someone's higher risk lifestyle be subsidized by other insurance customers?

Re: Google’s new program to track shoppers sparks a federal privacy complaint

#17

Post by Spivak »

Eridrus wrote: post #15
Spivak wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you want it to be sold to your insurance company? We see that you're a regular coffee drinker which is correlated with increased risk of heart problems -- here's a rate increase.

Maybe we'll get universal healthcare at some point and people will stop rolling out this tired argument.

Okay, how would you like your purchase histories to be used to determine your wealth and companies charge you more for goods and services because they know you can afford to.

"I'm sorry sir, our system says your wealth rating is 600, our discounts only apply to people with 400 or lower."

Re: Google’s new program to track shoppers sparks a federal privacy complaint

#18

Post by rhizome »

slobotron wrote: post #16
Spivak wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you want it to be sold to your insurance company? We see that you're a regular coffee drinker which is correlated with increased risk of heart problems -- here's a rate increase.

In general, why should someone's higher risk lifestyle be subsidized by other insurance customers?

My understanding is that the reason is because that's how insurance works.

Re: Google’s new program to track shoppers sparks a federal privacy complaint

#19

Post by the_common_man »

> Google called its advertising approach "common"

Tragedy of the commons. At this point in time, any and all forms of data collection have become common. When I visit a website, I expect them to collect everything about me - my IP, my mouse movements, what I clicked, how long I took to click it. Just a matter of time, that they start tracking audio and visual cues as well. It's unthinkable today but we will get there. It will enter slowly in the form of alexa and google home. then a browser plugin. Then a browser integration. Then a web api. And to cap it all, everyone will claim how it's made their life better.

Re: Google’s new program to track shoppers sparks a federal privacy complaint

#20

Post by cromwellian »

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #6
DannyBee wrote: post #4

Unfortunately, credit card companies/banks/etc have been selling purchasing histories, to pretty much all comers, for years. It'd be really nice if we could stop that instead of caring about the particular people they sell it to. IE It's not "better" when they sell it to someone who isn't Google, and I honestly could't give a crap about the complaint, which mostly deals with antitrust.

Yeah, first and foremost, it bothers me that this data can be sold at all in a user-identifiable way. (Presumably for Google to be able to link it to accounts, name and address are included in the data.) Perhaps this offers the opportunity for a product, in the short term: Is anyone offering credit cards which promise not to sell your purchase history? I'd be game for that.

It's actually not given to Google in a user identifiable way. I am not privy to the details, but an overview was presented at a crypto conference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ee7oRsDnNNc&t=10m1s

It looks to me like a form of homomorphic encryption where both the aggregate consumer transactions (people bought X at merchant M), and the aggregate Google ad information (people saw ad for X at merchant M) are encrypted and the set intersection is computed on the ciphertext revealing only the aggregate number of purchases, not the individuals.

Now granted, there could be a security hole in this scheme as with any crypto-protocol, so it does need peer review, but the design, as stated in that YouTube presentation, is not to reveal to Google personal purchasing information, nor reveal to merchants, personal profile information. No personal financial data or purchasing information is supposedly transmitted.

The problem with this kind of technology is that it is really difficult to explain to the public, and easily demagogued.

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