Xref: utzoo comp.org.eff.talk:1983 alt.privacy:265
Path: utzoo!utgpu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!emory!dixie.com!jgd
From: jgd@Dixie.Com (John G. DeArmond)
Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk,alt.privacy
Subject: Re: Safeway Stores to Accept Charge Cards
Message-ID: <9334@rsiatl.Dixie.Com>
Date: 7 Apr 91 02:06:54 GMT
References: <13810@asylum.SF.CA.US> <1991Apr6.000027.462@colorado.edu>
Followup-To: comp.org.eff.talk
Organization: Dixie Communications Services
Lines: 49

wouk@alumni.colorado.edu (Arthur Wouk) writes:

>the only improvement over the present inventory control systems which
>are widespread on bar-code reading systems is the ability to correlate
>purchases over a period of time, thus correlating who buys item a with
>who buys item b.  the information cannot be used about me, nor would
>it pay safeway to sell the information to anyone else in any way that
>would impact me unfavorably. i do not see food habits as forming a body
>of knowledge which would inconvenience me if made available to other
>food sellers not in competition with safeway. i am more annoyed with
>the proliferation of mail-order operations for other goods.

This is not true.  Please read my article titled "POS data collection" in
this group for more details.  The data collected about your buying
habits may end up being the most profitable item the food stores
sell.  Indeed, industry insiders estimate that life style database
sale profits may soon exceed the profit made on the food products themselves!
The stores are being paid 3 times.  Once in the form of updated POS systems
provided by the data aggregators, twice by getting fees to collect the
data and three times by being paid for the actual data collected.

>if safeway goes over to visa nationwide, this may be because the
>experiment here in colorado is too expensive, and emplying the banks
>to produce the same information may be cheaper. also, it is easy to
>avoid the whole system by NOT using visa. the world managed to sell
>goods before visa, and no one is forced to use visa.

Safeway would go over to Visa because Visa wants in on this gravy train
and will pay the grocers royally to gain access to the life style
data.  From the grocers' point of view, they win twice because they
not only get to advertise that the plastic society has come to the
grocery store, they also get the highest payment for the collected data.


Like I noted in my previous article, it is vital that anyone at all 
concerned with personal privacy and/or the ability to lead a non-normal
(as defined by insurance companies and the government) lives should
completely boycott any store that employs any kind of life style data
collection/ customer tracking system.  The trinkets you receive now
in return for your patronage will later make the sale of Manhattan Island
look like a good deal for the Indians.

John

-- 
John De Armond, WD4OQC        | "Purveyors of speed to the Trade"  (tm)
Rapid Deployment System, Inc. |  Home of the Nidgets (tm)
Marietta, Ga                  | 
jgd@dixie.com                 |"Politically InCorrect.. And damn proud of it