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Norway to track all supermarket purchases?

lifeinnorway.net

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Re: Norway to track all supermarket purchases?

#251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seconded. I'm on an all-meat diet and I turned my health around thanks to it. Most often people who advocate eliminating meat look sickly, because they are.

Where do you get your dietary fiber from?

I don't, turns out transit works fine (actually much better) without it.

I won't speculate on whether this would apply to everybody but my hypothesis is my health issues stemmed from gut biome disregulation caused by - way too many causes to list - and somehow only total elimination of carbohydrates and plant matter fixes it.

Re: Norway to track all supermarket purchases?

#252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're talking about the tracking done by reward systems then that's a voluntary agreement that people enter into. You can choose not to use a rewards program. As far as I know, if you use a credit card they only know the total of how much you spent and once again you can choose not to use a credit card or bank card and pay with cash if you wish. This proposed data collection has no opt out option. It's kind of ex…

> It's kind of exasperating how little people think about the difference between voluntary participation and forced participation It is totally exasperating when folks excuse corporation tracking you as 'voluntary agreement' when the only alternstive to tracking is forgoonf essential services like mobile phones and living like a hermit

Its not difficult to pay with cash and to not enter your phone-number at the register. Paying with cash is a helpful way to budget.

Re: Norway to track all supermarket purchases?

#253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

this would arguably be a great thing

Meat is part of a healthy diet. Sure, some survive on other stuff, but in general, meat is healthy.

Part of. Extreme consumption of meat, especially red meat, is unhealthy. Not to mention bad for the planet.

Re: Norway to track all supermarket purchases?

#254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoted post unavailable.

I'd move to 'Individuland'! Where is it? Don't tell me that states have claimed everything and everyone?! Must I accept the authority of government and rule by the worst of us? Why do you accept it? Cos you were born somewhere? Do I have the right to create a new country, and make you a citizen? If not, where does the government's right to do that come from?!? In fact, it has no right - all the pieces of paper they w…

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Re: Norway to track all supermarket purchases?

#255
post #151

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*illegally Sure, there are illegal ways around all laws. That does not make laws useless.

Norway is already the country where it's quite normal to drive to Sweden to buy tobacco, alcohol and yes meat, and other stuff that's cheaper across the borders. Restaurants source cheaper meat illegally this way etc. Unfortunately, Sweden is in the EU and Norway is not so there's quite a lot of customs rules on that border.

I lived in Tromsø and drove to Sweden and Finland a fair few times... there is zero customs enforcement. At least for cars, for lorries they're probably tracked in some other way.

Re: Norway to track all supermarket purchases?

#256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's essential.

Seconded. I'm on an all-meat diet and I turned my health around thanks to it. Most often people who advocate eliminating meat look sickly, because they are.

I'm happy that worked for you, but nutrition is too complex to make sweeping statements like that. Some scientists say that animal fats are unhealthy, while others correlate the increase in lifestyle diseases with the increased consumption of vegetable fats. We just don't know enough about how the body works.

Re: Norway to track all supermarket purchases?

#257
post #90

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You're already being tracked by the grocery stores, wouldn't it be better to be tracked by someone who at least tries to have your best interests at heart vs. the grocery industry who just wants to sell you more?

Realistically, what is the worst possible consequence of a supermarket being able to track you? At worst, I suppose you be could be charged more for purchasing a certain item at that particular chain. I highly doubt this has ever happened, since it's bad for business. The usual consequence for getting tracked at the supermarket is getting a discount on certain groceries via a loyalty program, with zero downsides for…

> I suppose you be could be charged more for purchasing a certain item at that particular chain. I highly doubt this has ever happened, since it's bad for business.

I'm sure it has, it's just done in a subtle manner you don't notice.

> What is the worst realistic consequence for a government...tracking all grocery purchases? As many other posters have noted, it's reasonable to imagine a progressive sin tax:

That was determined by a democracy. And if a government wanted to do that today, it would be trivial to do via fiat. No need to build a database or even track what exactly is purchased. Just swipe your "tax setting" card before you swipe anything else.

Re: Norway to track all supermarket purchases?

#258
post #36

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> Please consult the official list for alternatives.” More likely a new way to tax stuff that the government does not like. Eating too much red-meat from methane-producing cows? Extra climate change tax for you!

this would arguably be a great thing

Meat is literally recycled grass. Zero net carbon footprint. Sure cows release methane, but it’s part of a cycle and doesn’t contribute to long-term climate change.

All other “C footprint” is a consequence of poor farming practices, not meat. Blame the process (and the energy source) not the product.

Re: Norway to track all supermarket purchases?

#259

One should be aware that Norway already has very comprehensive registers and databases about the population. Currently, it has only been a benefit, I think, as it enables detailed quality control of say health care services and high-quality register studies. For example, all health/hospital records of deceased Norwegians are digitalized ten years after death and added to a national register. No way to refuse. In my o…

Yep; societally, they've got a very different attitude towards privacy. Everyone's salary is publicly available online. (So's the fact that you looked!) https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-40669239

As said in the article, we already share our data with the supermarket, google, etc and whatever other systems that binds all of them together.

In that situation, I'm happy that government has access to the same data because it gives it a way to balance the private sector power.

Now what is needed is the ability to opt out.

Re: Norway to track all supermarket purchases?

#260
post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're already being tracked by the grocery stores, wouldn't it be better to be tracked by someone who at least tries to have your best interests at heart vs. the grocery industry who just wants to sell you more?

>tracked by someone who at least tries to have your best interests at heart I don't know if that was sarcasm or you being really naive.

I don’t think the view that “government is bad” is any less naive than the alternative, and it’s a rather less sophisticated viewpoint. Assuming you live in a functional country, I’d even go so far as to say it’s a juvenile viewpoint.
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