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

Post by losteverything » Mon, Jul 31, 2017, 6:16 PM UTC

likpok wrote: post #34

trendia wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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] ht…

NB that handling cash isn't free either. You have to pay someone to count it, secure it, and steal it (you are arguably not intentionally paying people to steal cash, but shrinkage is certainly a cost of doing business in cash). I've seen estimates that the cost of handling cash is actually higher than the interchange fees that Visa charges. This generally counts things like armored truck services, time spent countin…

Post by stephengillie » Mon, Jul 31, 2017, 6:20 PM UTC

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #40

belltaco wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would be nice if commenters like you added a disclaimer that you work for Google in comments that hand wave away Google's privacy issues.

Eventually you just get the gist for who around here works at Google. ;) cromwellian, who responded to one of my comments here, is also a Googler. Arguably, DannyBee is correct that the real issue is that credit card companies are allowed to sell this data at all. But perhaps the danger of this practice is especially highlighted by the fact that Google is now one of the buyers.

Post by ashark » Mon, Jul 31, 2017, 6:22 PM UTC

Shivetya wrote: post #29

trendia wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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] ht…

the bigger issue is that once cash is gone your purchasing history is available to government and nothing there is protected from prying eyes. plus a cashless society is far easier to control as purchases can be blocked at anytime as a goods or services can be declared illegal. so while Visa is the threat in the forefront we need to be very wary about any attempt to push towards a cash less society until privacy is g…

Post by dragonwriter » Mon, Jul 31, 2017, 6:30 PM UTC

digi_owl wrote: post #54

dragonwriter wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Publicly-disclosed (by legal mandate) financial sponsorship of a public advocacy campaign on a public policy matter is about as far as you can be from a “private matter”.

Hrmf, did i get my CEOs confused. Could have sworn there was some BDSM stuff involved as well. Or was that some other FOSS project?

Post by RenierZA » Mon, Jul 31, 2017, 6:37 PM UTC

trendia wrote: post #14

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] ht…