And lo on Mon, 11 Aug 2008 16:34:38 +0100, Jim Henderson  
<nos### [at] nospamcom> did spake, saying:

> On Sun, 10 Aug 2008 21:58:45 +0100, St. wrote:
>
>> Heard enough horror stories about them.
>
> Such as?
>
> I used to work in IT in the food/drug retail industry (but I don't any
> more).  So I'm curious how people think that data's being used.  I don't
> have a complete picture myself, but what I've seen of it in the chain I
> used to work in, I don't think it's anywhere as bad as people think.
>
> Understanding customer spending habits allows a store to better stock up
> on the things I need/want.  In general, it would be impossible for a
> large chain to use that data to track individual shopping habits - the
> data is much more useful in determining things like aggregate products
> purchased by the local population and a better understanding of how
> customers use multiple stores in the same area.

Yet I get vouchers from the supermarket tailored to correspond to items  
I've already purchased from there. I doubt anyone's picking over the data  
individually more a case of X purchases within Y days of product type Z  
all ranked with the top five being assigned corresponding vouchers.

It's also something to remember that such stores are branching out into  
other areas such as insurance etc. and that some cards can be used in many  
participating stores. In theory if I used a store card everywhere I could  
the company could know what I eat and how often, what type of clothes I  
buy, the books I read, the movies I watch, where and how often I buy  
petrol. Sure it's all automated until someone in the government decides  
they want to know more about a suspicious individual's habits.

> I wonder what kind of stories Starbuck's data would give you, for
> example....

At the very least it could reveal your work hours.

-- 
Phil Cook

--
I once tried to be apathetic, but I just couldn't be bothered
http://flipc.blogspot.com

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