Ummm, yeah... I think I'm not shopping here anymore!


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AndieIsMe is offline AndieIsMe — Advice Member-Moderator Post #1  February 17,2012, 11:18pm
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How Target Figured Out A Teen Girl Was Pregnant Before Her Father Did - Yahoo! Shopping
 
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harnomygirl is offline harnomygirl Post #2  February 18,2012, 6:30am
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That one was pretty easy to see coming. I realized a few years ago that I couldn't get lower prices at major stores without one of their cards.
 
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AndieIsMe is offline AndieIsMe — Advice Member-Moderator Post #3  February 18,2012, 8:48am
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I can understand tracking when you use a discount card, but Target doesn't have one. They use credit card data! That seems an invasion of privacy a bit.
 
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harnomygirl is offline harnomygirl Post #4  February 18,2012, 10:22am
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True. I guess credit cards should be a huge red flag for me.

They started a long time ago though. I remember when people who screamed about Big Brother and Visa/Mastercard were labeled crackpots and that's how I was raised. People could always use cash if they really thought cards were intrusive.

Now, cash gets you nothing and can actually hurt you. There is no escape and everyone just has to live with that.
 
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emma_hazards is offline emma_hazards Post #5  February 19,2012, 4:56am
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There are several large third-party companies out there whose sole purpose is to collect every iota of data about you and sell it to retailers and others for marketing purposes--what you buy, what you do, etc. Have you every used a credit card? Debit card? Store discount card? Provided a phone number? Email address? Purchased a car? Filled out a product registration card? Liked a store on Facebook? Followed a store-based twitter feed? Had a presence on any social network? Purchased anything online? Used a phone app in a store? On and on... If you want to minimize this, use cash only, refuse all discounts (because these are invariably ploys by retailers to get you to divulge who you are so you can be tracked), don't buy anything that requires something be filed with a public agency (e.g. car registration), don't use the internet (because your internet provider collects your online activities and interests and sells it), avoid Google/Bing, and lose your cell phone. And while you're at it, move to Europe where they have slightly stronger data privacy laws, live off the grid, grow your own food, and create your own clothes. Maybe then you won't be tracked...well not to the same extent.

Sorry Andie, but this data had been collected on you since the mid-80's. How it can be analyzed has improved tremendously since then as computing advances have been made. But you've been tracked and dissected for most of your life. Most stores are just not dumb enough to divulge this, because yes, it makes us queasy to know this is being done. Much as a date mentioning he googled us and then asking us about some very private detail of our lives.
 
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tweet37 is offline tweet37 Post #6  February 19,2012, 7:05am
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emma_hazards wrote :
There are several large third-party companies out there whose sole purpose is to collect every iota of data about you and sell it to retailers and others for marketing purposes--what you buy, what you do, etc. Have you every used a credit card? Debit card? Store discount card? Provided a phone number? Email address? Purchased a car? Filled out a product registration card? Liked a store on Facebook? Followed a store-based twitter feed? Had a presence on any social network?

Like ehahaha.

Purchased anything online? Used a phone app in a store? On and on... If you want to minimize this, use cash only, refuse all discounts (because these are invariably ploys by retailers to get you to divulge who you are so you can be tracked), don't buy anything that requires something be filed with a public agency (e.g. car registration), don't use the internet (because your internet provider collects your online activities and interests and sells it),

Just like ehahaha. That's why you get different ads than others.

avoid Google/Bing, and lose your cell phone. And while you're at it, move to Europe where they have slightly stronger data privacy laws, live off the grid, grow your own food, and create your own clothes. Maybe then you won't be tracked...well not to the same extent.

Sorry Andie, but this data had been collected on you since the mid-80's. How it can be analyzed has improved tremendously since then as computing advances have been made. But you've been tracked and dissected for most of your life. Most stores are just not dumb enough to divulge this, because yes, it makes us queasy to know this is being done. Much as a date mentioning he googled us and then asking us about some very private detail of our lives.
Yep.
 
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mitchell175 is offline mitchell175 Post #7  February 24,2012, 6:10pm
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Interesting article. I shop at Target regularly and I usually buy household items there (laundry detergent, dish soap, cleaning products...) and I like it when they send me coupons for those items. But I also get my share of baby coupons! Apparently it's because of the lotion, vitamins and feminine products I buy there.

It doesn't surprise me that stores keep track of these kinds of purchases, and that they can link it to your credit card information for marketing purposes. I was recently at work surfing online for some new boots (Hey! You know you all do it too!) and then later when I was looking up some legitimate stuff for work on various search engines all I had along the side was ads for boots!
 
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boomer_gal is offline boomer_gal Post #8  February 24,2012, 7:43pm
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Read a Lincoln Rhyme mystery recently that was based on the premise of a "data miner" using knowledge to frame people for murders.
 
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harnomygirl is offline harnomygirl Post #9  February 25,2012, 9:02am
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I guess you mean The Broken Window. I'll check it out. Since it sounds like something written for the purpose of increasing public paranoia, I hope it's at least a good read.
 
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Sassafras54 is online now Sassafras54 — Advice Official Moderator Post #10  February 25,2012, 11:26am
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I'm going to pay more attention to the coupons Target (or anyone I guess) sends me so I can datamine them ... figure out what they're figuring out about me. Not very useful data though I guess! lol

I guess I don't really care. I'm happy to get coupons. I rarely use the coupons I get sent so I don't think they're mining very well.

BTW Target does have a discount card: the Red Card, 5% off everything.
 
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