Google starts tracking what people buy in physical stores

Re:Google starts tracking what people buy in physical stores by iDemonix on Wednesday May 24, 2017 @04:00AM (#14408268)

Very important point. In my workplace, often the smartest engineers are so focused on doing smart things, they forget that the data they're dealing with belongs to, or identifies, people.

Got to make those yearly objectives/appraisals count though.

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Re:Google starts tracking what people buy in physical stores by keithpeter on Wednesday May 24, 2017 @05:31AM (#14408704)

Perhaps a more subtle thing for them to keep in mind: many people carry out a mix of card/online and cash transactions. Only the card/online transactions will be captured. The Panopticon's record will show an extremely unhealthy and meagre diet for me for instance because I buy fresh fruit/veg at markets - cash only.

It strikes me that data censored through transaction modality and then used to make marketing decisions may result in poor results.

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Re:Google starts tracking what people buy in physical stores by bbcbasic on Wednesday May 24, 2017 @06:13AM (#14408863)

If they can still make predictions based on a partial dataset it's better than nothing and probably profitable to use. Chuck some linear regression or similar at it.

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Re:Google starts tracking what people buy in physical stores by TeMPOraL on Wednesday May 24, 2017 @09:01AM (#14409676)

Also in this particular example, they could probably compute that your junk food shopping doesn't account for your daily calories intake.

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Re:Google starts tracking what people buy in physical stores by eternalban on Wednesday May 24, 2017 @06:06AM (#14408829)

The Panopticon central says 'cash is going bye bye sunshine'.

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Re:Google starts tracking what people buy in physical stores by keithpeter on Wednesday May 24, 2017 @04:07PM (#14413033)

http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/Documents/quarte...

Cash will be around for a fair time yet, but you have a point for any form of regular or recurrent expenditure. As the above pdf explains 'hoarding' of notes as a store of value seems strangely popular...

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Re:Google starts tracking what people buy in physical stores by hagakure0c on Wednesday May 24, 2017 @04:23AM (#14408363)

Sooner or later people will start to revolt and either go back to use semi-anonymous cash or truly anonymous payment systems like bitcoin. Google and advertising will then be in the dark.

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Re:Google starts tracking what people buy in physical stores by tintor on Wednesday May 24, 2017 @04:29AM (#14408399)

Bitcoin is not "truly anonymous" by default. All transactions are public and can be traced back to you, unless you use non-logging bitcoin mixers for every single transaction.

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Re:Google starts tracking what people buy in physical stores by mirimir on Wednesday May 24, 2017 @04:42AM (#14408454)

No, you just mix a bunch, and then use them. But you must use VPNs and/or Tor, to avoid linkage by IP address. If you want compartmentalization, just mix into separate wallets. And if you want strong compartmentalization, do everything via Tor, and put those wallets in separate VMs (such as Whonix).

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Re:Google starts tracking what people buy in physical stores by hvidgaard on Wednesday May 24, 2017 @05:05AM (#14408578)

Indeed, Bitcoin can be anonymous if there is enough critical mass. But that requires far more involment than the average person is willing to do. Cash is easy and simple.

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Re:Google starts tracking what people buy in physical stores by Freak_NL on Wednesday May 24, 2017 @04:56AM (#14408535)

Only if we don't all but lose the option of cash before then. The war on cash is being waged, more in some countries than others, but is a political trend to envision a future without cash.

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Re:Google starts tracking what people buy in physical stores by codedokode on Wednesday May 24, 2017 @05:02AM (#14408565)

Would not it be easier to make a law forbidding transferring personal information without a person's consent? Not opt-out, but rather opt-in scheme. Companies like Google just exploit a lack of regulation.

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Re:Google starts tracking what people buy in physical stores by rjtavares on Wednesday May 24, 2017 @06:14AM (#14408871)

As usual, the European Union has some good intentions in this area:

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jan/10/whatsapp-...

We'll see how that goes. I have a feeling most users will just opt in without much care.

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Re:Google starts tracking what people buy in physical stores by TheCoelacanth on Wednesday May 24, 2017 @12:26PM (#14411189)

Bitcoin: I don't want Google to have access to a private ledger of my transactions, so instead I'm going to make all of my transactions available via a public ledger.

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Re:Google starts tracking what people buy in physical stores by dazc on Wednesday May 24, 2017 @05:20AM (#14408660)

People, in general, do not seem to care about privacy so long as they are getting something in return. So, yes, some people will revolt but not a critical mass.

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Re:Google starts tracking what people buy in physical stores by 0x45696e6172 on Wednesday May 24, 2017 @06:12AM (#14408861)

How anonymous is cash really? All money bills have serial numbers that could automatically be correlated with ATMs and your time/location data.

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Re:Google starts tracking what people buy in physical stores by kalmi10 on Wednesday May 24, 2017 @06:22AM (#14408900)

I read an article about a year ago that about 50% of China's ATM had this serial number recording capability, and that at least some compuer-connected cash counters had it too. I was highly sceptical, but then I found a cash counter that had this capability listed on its specifications page. I don't have time right now to find it again, but they are out there and it's already being done at some places. Okay, maybe not correlated, but recorded for sure.

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Re:Google starts tracking what people buy in physical stores by halflings on Wednesday May 24, 2017 @04:28AM (#14408383)

What does that mean? The point behind that quote is that they're very aware of the privacy implications and took some of their best engineers to make sure things are well implemented and secure. The product in itself is clearly described here. It's not up to individual employees to be "trusted" with this type of data, as it must be encrypted at rest and all accesses audited etc.

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Re:Google starts tracking what people buy in physical stores by mtgx on Wednesday May 24, 2017 @05:15AM (#14408635)

Which is why I'm very worried about DeepMind's secret ethical board, if one even exists:

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jan/26/google-de...

Why would it have to be secret if it's supposed to make people trust Google's AI more? And what are they hiding? Is President Duterte or a Saudi prince on that ethics panel? (serious question - we just don't know right now)

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Re:Google starts tracking what people buy in physical stores by speedplane on Wednesday May 24, 2017 @05:20AM (#14408657)

It needs to be secret to facilitate open discussion. That said, there should be a public component to it. For instance, they should publish their findings when they come to consensus.

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Re:Google starts tracking what people buy in physical stores by 659087 on Wednesday May 24, 2017 @07:16AM (#14409109)

Agreeing to work on mass surveillance/manipulation tech isn't something highly ethical people do.

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