Amazon is using my grocery purchases to sell me prescription drugs | Hacker News Reader

Amazon is using my grocery purchases to sell me prescription drugs

vox.com

45 pointssea-gold11 comments

That's creepy as hell. I stopped using Amazon a long while back, but if I hadn't, this kind of thing would absolutely have got me to stop.

Remember when Target had to dial back it's personalized advertising because it was creeping out customers? The meme example was a dad getting mad that they sent pregnancy related stuff to his daughter after their algo figured out she was pregnant before he did.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/02/16/how-targ...

People who buy specific low cholesterol foods probably also buy drugs that lower cholesterol. The AI notices this correlation and makes a reasonable suggestion, and frankly it's pretty close since this guy was already concerned about it and in talks with his doctor.

It might suggest insulin for someone who buys a lot of sugar free candy.

You dont need AI for that.

We don't really have AI yet, was just using it for short hand.

Medical drugs should not be sold online.

The US and New Zealand are also the only countries in the world that allow advertising of prescription medications to consumers. And New Zealand is trying to stop that (and only allowed it in the first place because of US pressure during a trade agreement negotiation).

The change in US law that allowed drug companies to advertise prescription medication directly to the public was a terrible thing. It was bad almost immediately, and has just become worse over time.

I guess the fact that it happened, and that nobody's even talking about reversing that decision, shows the great power that drug companies have over our government.

They absolutely should be... it is cheaper and saves a lot of time. Going to Dr. appointments online, and ordering prescriptions online is great! They shouldn't be advertised online, because medical decisions shouldn't be made based on advertising.

As someone who is mostly house- and sometimes bed-bound, what do you suggest people like me do?

Why not?

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