Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!lll-winken!uwm.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!samsung!emory!rsiatl!jgd
From: jgd@Dixie.Com (John G. DeArmond)
Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk
Subject: Re: Point of Sale
Message-ID: <6178@rsiatl.Dixie.Com>
Date: 28 Jan 91 23:01:47 GMT
References: <9161@uwm.edu> <1991Jan28.131402.29179@com50.c2s.mn.org>
Organization: Rapid Deployment Systems (making go-fast things and things that-go fast)
Lines: 101

craig@com50.c2s.mn.org (Craig Wilson) writes:

>I am curious.  Does anyone know, from experience, what the record layouts look
>like for these supermarket databases?  I find it hard to believe (not
>impossible, just hard)  that 'every' transaction is recorded with respect to
>purchaser, item, time, date, item cost, ambient temperature, etc.

>How big are these databases?  And what kind of equipment do they run on?

>I guess, I would like a more technical description of what is taking place in
>these instances.

As the ex-project manager for just such a system (until I quit in disgust.),
let me add some facts.  

YES, not only every transaction but every detail record of every
transaction is recorded.  The record layout is typically very simple and
compact.  The UPC code of the item, your "frequent buyer" number and a
time stamp is stored by the intelligent cash register. The back-end
processor for the cash-register is equipped with what is known as
"demographics" software that collects these detail records together  into
transaction records and stores them on embedded hard drives for 
collection.  Where the data goes from there depends on the particular
data collector.  Both PCs and small Unix systems are used to collect the
data from the POS BEP and forward it to a central collection site.  The
data may go through one or more regional concentration centers on its 
way to the mainframe.   

At the mainframe site, the computer is typically an IBM 40XX connected to
a large disk farm.  The one I was involved with filled an entire floor
of a high-rise.  Once on the mainframe, the data is massaged according
to the requirements of whomever is buying the data.  What is interesting
is that the same people who are involved in this activity are the ones
who are also involved in the banking and insurance industries.  That 
Sunday night steak really COULD cost you on your life insurance premium.

The biggest player in the game is CitiBank.  They record every detail that
they can get their hands on.  Ever wonder why they push the CitiCards 
so heavily?

There are people who pooh-pooh what is going on.  They are not the ones
who actually know what is going on.  Very sophisticated lifestyle 
computer models are being constructed that will tell anyone with the 
bucks more about you than likely you yourself know.  They will know how
much you make, where you live, what you buy, when you buy, your driving
and eating habits and your health-care habits.  Much of this has
already happened quietly behind the scenes.  If you value your privacy
AND/OR your ability to buy affordable insurance AND/OR the right to be
left alone by the government (IRS), you had better wake up and smell
the roses.  1984 has long past and the big brother future  is here NOW.

What can you do?  Here are several steps:

*	Protest loud and long.  We've killed Lotus Marketplace; we can kill
	other privacy invasions.

*	Take the protest to the local level.  Badger your grocery store manager
	and his manager.  Demand to know exactly what kind of and how much
	data is being collected.

*	Never, but NEVER use a check cashing card, a frequent buyer card,
	or any other device that will let a vendor associate your purchase 
	with your identity.  If you use a credit card, make the vendor simply
	write "merchandise" on the credit slip.  DO NOT let them swipe your
	card into a POS terminal.  The outboard authorization terminals are
	somewhat OK, in that they only record a total.

*	Use cash whenever you can.  If you really need to float for a month,
	consider a cash advance on your credit card.  There are card companies
	that don't charge interest on cash advances until invoice date.

*	Avoid the use of checks whenever possible, because  many large
	banks now catalog check transactions.

*	Never give your name or your phone number to a store.  This goes 
	for Radio Shack as well as more mundane stores.  I know for a 
	fact that RS releases personal information because I've seeded 
	their database with false names and gotten junk mail.

*	If you get magazine subscriptions, specify that your name is NOT
	to be released to 3rd parties. If possible, have the magazines 
	delivered to an alias at a PO Box.  A shell company name is very
	effective.

*	Actively persecute any violators of your personal privacy.  Make
	a pain in the ass of yourself.  Make it cost the violators to 
	continue abusing you.

*	Let your congresslime know what you think.  We CAN get legislation
	to protect us but it will take popular pressure to overcome the
	financial resources of the large retailers, mass mailers and
	insurance industry.


John

-- 
John De Armond, WD4OQC        | "Purveyors of speed to the Trade"  (tm)
Rapid Deployment System, Inc. |  Home of the Nidgets (tm)
Marietta, Ga                  | 
{emory,uunet}!rsiatl!jgd      |"Politically InCorrect.. And damn proud of it