Even more reason to shop online..
Though just not going outside is not a solution, we definitely need legislation for this.
Though just not going outside is not a solution, we definitely need legislation for this.
Cash is one of the last remaining bastions of true transactional privacy (and of course, with some legwork and a warrant, law enforcement can connect the dots).
This is is the same thing that tends to bother me about people worrying about hackers spying on them via built-in webcam. Unless there's a very specific reason for it, they simply don't need to. Tracking your data/activity/input is easier and much more valuable.
I'm not sure that's true -- cameras can track you around the store, seeing how long you linger at each product display, recording every time you reach out to touch a product. Which seems similar to the information online merchants can collect.
One thing they can collect in the store that they can't as easily track online (unless you're sending product links around) is who you are shopping with -- they can see that you come to the store with your friend, spouse, or children.
If you're in someone's house on their wifi network and they're shopping for socks... you might start seeing ads about socks. It's way easier to track this based on network information than creating facial recognition databases.
A lot of the "Facebook is listening to your conversation" fears stem from the fact that people don't realize that they can use data to make connections like this.
If you're remotely concerned about privacy, at the very least Facebook should not have an app on your phone (Google's doing it too).
Self-fulfilling prophecy.
Are you sure?
They can ask for your phone number at purchase or they can use your credit card number to link you to your online profile.
Eh... should I remind you about NSA, CIA, FBI? Do you seriously trust the government with this tech? And even if you did, how do you think you'll regulate something anyone can download for free and run on their $50 computer?