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Comment by sonnyblarney | Hacker News Reader

"I don't have to give my information so I don't feel like I am being tracked."

Uhhh, you for sure will.

First - BB is very aggressive on getting this stuff from you cleanly, i.e. name, addy, phone number - so they can 'track you'.

Second - VISA/MC transactions will absolutely be used for that and they'll try to match up their in-store with online experiences. FYI - Visa/MC/Amex will literally sell your transaction data to almost anyone. I went in to do a deal with Amex, their only concern was selling us all sorts of your buying data.

But it's nice to get stuff 'same day' :)

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I am curious how they are "very aggressive". What happens with me is they say "what is your phone number?" and I say "no thank you", and they just skip it. Though it may just be my experience with them.

You are correct with the credit card, they will most likely track you, but you have the option to use cash if you wish.

Yea, I politely say no to everything. Boy, do they have a lot of questions though.

I love the puzzled looks of clerks when they ask for my phone number or address and I decline. I've only once had to resort to "I can make up a phone number if you really want one".

Haha, or when they tell me the data will be kept confidential. I can't help but laugh at that.

The only way to be free from tracking is to:

1. Not provide your email address 2. Pay in Cash 3. Don't give your home address

That is literally the only way you can't be tracked. But there are so many times you are prompted to provide that information:

* would you like a receipt to be sent to your email address? * would you like to sign up for our debit card and get $40 in savings? * would you like us to home deliver this free accessory which is unfortunately not in stock at this time?

You have to have Stallman level of rigor if you are serious about not being tracked.

...or you pay with card, politely decline a membership and email receipt, and provide a trivial amount of tracking data compared to the amount Amazon gets from you merely visiting a product's page.

Isn't your credit card information something that can be used to determine your identity?

Yes, but unfortunately credit card transactions get sold to third parties by the CC companies regardless, so it's quite possible Amazon gets to track me with that either way.

I have never had the third one happen to me honestly. But really I just politely say "no" each time. It really hasn't been a big deal for me, but your experience my be different than mine.

You always have the option to pay with cash at Best Buy, don't you?

I assume all credit card transactions are sold to third parties no matter the retailer. The only exceptions are large enough companies like Amazon/Google who are in enough categories that they can make more money using your information first party than they can by selling it. It's not that Amazon/Google respect your privacy more than other retailers, they're just sharing it with other departments instead of other orgs.

Why are you putting ‘same day’ in quotes? Are you not getting products from Best Buy on the same day?

Because without quotes it would just be improper English and poor grammar; 'same day' is a term, not proper language. I would have to write "It would be nice to get stuff without waiting" or "nice to get stuff on the same day that I purchased" etc..

Or you could write "same-day"?

Yes, 'same day' and "same-day" both convey the same meaning.

I semi-regularly buy stuff from Best Buy with cash without problem.

> FYI - Visa/MC/Amex will literally sell your transaction data to almost anyone

Any way to opt out of this? I try to opt out of all the sharing I can with my bank, but if it's being sold at the Visa/MC/Amex level, I'm skeptical that helps.

Visa/MC/Amex will literally sell your transaction data to almost anyone

There was an article linked on HN last year which indicated that Google gets 80% of all card transactions. My guess is that it's more by now.

"gets"? You mean processes? Or obtains, like from buying the information, reading emails etc?

Gets a copy of. Not processes; that's still done by the CC processor. But your transactions are sold. Your name, item purchased, price paid, where, when, etc...

G, along with so many others, will buy your transactions from VISA/MX/AMEX.

So even with Visa/MC/Amex - 'you are the product'.

You can pay cash and give fake data.

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