Data Mining Consumers
 

I've been yearning to write a worm/virus to either destroy this collected information, or stuff the db with garbage and make it useless. Why? Because I hate my data being collected without my knowledge and profited on. That, and I'm an *******.

This is the kind of thing that absolutely makes my blood boil.

U.S. Constitution, Article IV: "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

I don't see anywhere in the Bill of Rights that businesses are exempt. The kind of spying that goes on is, by any measure, an unreasonable search - no different from an illegal wiretap. Absent (a) my permission to profile me, or (b) a search warrant, such profiling should be treated as a felony.

People stalk, get charged under stalking laws, and then get sentanced to imprisonment.

Corporations are people.

I rarely use credit cards. Just a habit to use cash. I don't use any store's "loyalty" cards because I carry as little as possible in my wallet. Driver's license, ONE credit card, and cash. Not much else.

Reading this reinforces my desire to use only cash.

Okay, time for Devil's advocate:

What is wrong if somebody simply looks onto your shopping cart to see what you're buying? You're out in a public place.

That covers just a bit of it, however.

Have 'flash' installed on your computer? It has a unique fingerprint. Allow cookies? DoubleClick (among others) loves them.

There's a reason Google bought Youtube and DoubleClick.

Credit card records are really just a minor part of personal profiling (read: spying) today.

No problem. Public place and no expectation of privacy. Now: what if they then follow you around the store and write down everything you buy and look at? That's what's happening with the data dossiers.

True. Is going to Target's website a public place?

I guess we have to assume it is- Just like the rest of the internet.

...or, more to the point, is your computer (where your part of the transaction takes place) to be considered a public place?

Did Target ask if they can retain your shopping practices for unspecified purposes? Did they tell you that by combining that with your credit card information they now have marketable data specific to you and they will store (and potentially resell) that?

Target's web site is most certainly a public place, but it is reasonable to expect that the individual transactions between you and target are not public.

I've always wondered if something like this would work:

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/exploits_of_a_mom.png

Anonymous internet proxy services are cheap if you are concerned. Cash still works....

Ha... That's great! Takes me back a few years.

Resistance is futile.

Corporations have your best interests at heart. Limiting their freedom messes up the "free market" checks and balances. They use this information to better serve your needs. Just ask the folks over on PARF.

BTW, I shop primarily at Fred Meyer. Because they don't mandate that I sign up for and produce/use any sort of special card in order to get the sale price. The others (Safeway, Albertsons....) try to purchase my consumption pattern information by requiring a card they can use to track my behavior. Fk that. I'm not sellin' my info. Like Dan, I use cash often.

I do actually have a Safeway and Albertsons card(s) for those rare occasions when I need to buy something there. The personal information I gave them is bogus.

Why, of course! Did you give them the name "Clark Kent"? Seems to work well.

I've had Home Depot ask for a phone number when paying with cash. I just say "No thanks", and the cashiers happily take my money anyway.

check out ghostery.com, I think.

I do some of that; however, it puts the burden on the wrong side of the equation. We should not have to go to extraordinary lengths (especially when Joe Average won't have a clue of how) or additional expense to guard what is rightfully ours.

My question still stands: how is it that commercial interests are allowed to flaunt our Constitutional protections when gov't is (mostly) expected to be subject to them?

I just use the same fake name I use here