The reality is plenty of parents are very uninvolved in their childrens' lives.
Surprising that they mine data, and act on potentially sensitive information? Somewhat.
Worrisome that they effectively took it upon themselves to disclose to her father that she was pregnant? I find it shocking that anyone would think it's not.
> Worrisome that they effectively took it upon themselves to
> disclose to her father that she was pregnant? I find it
> shocking that anyone would think it's not.
1. girl gets pregnant
2. girl gets pregnancy coupons
3. father gets angry, goes to store and complains
4. store manager has no clue why the ad was sent,
and apologizes to father
5. girl admits to father that she is pregnant
6. father apologizes to store manager"2. Based on girl's purchases, company sends flyers - not private mail - addressed to girl by name, advertising specific types of products directly to her."
That her father didn't immediately put 2 and 2 together is besides the point. I think in his position, I might well have figured it out.
Perhaps its a function of age (I'm 37), but I am genuinely surprised at someone not finding this a clear violation of privacy.
[EDIT: Afterthought - it might be quite interesting to plot HN's attitude towards this against age. Would the younger people be less uncomfortable with it because this is the world they've grown up in?]
they effectively took it upon themselves to disclose
to her father that she was pregnant
"They effectively disclosed to her father that she was pregnant"
Like most, you have a naive and non-legal concept of what privacy is. Analyzing public behavior (shopping) and sending mail to your public address isn't even close to the realm of privacy.
> you have a naive and non-legal concept
> of what privacy is
1. This is not a court.
2. Very few of us are lawyers.
3. Nobody is talking about criminal charges or civil suits.
Which is why the parent comment about legal issues is apropo. That, is what will be, and only be, considered.
I think, though, that the relationship to Target isn't like that, because while they know an awful lot about you personally, you don't know them personally at all - they're just a corporate face, not a familiar one behind the counter.
In fact, you've just helped me figure out a bit more specifically what I found vaguely unsettling about it.
In the end, he's another person (not 'person' like target) who lives in your community.
Who, perhaps, is Target? Or Wal-mart?
7. father reacts violently and girl is injured (with potential loss of child)
or is killed.
1b. girl is looking to escape current situation
If I had a business that could gather this type of information, I would be very careful about how the full extent of my company's knowledge is presented to my customers. It is worth looking into the presentation to make sure you will not be the subject of a tabloid article with the words "Killed" or "Spying" in the title.
I'm 38 and I don't know that it's a clear violation of privacy. They presumably didn't realize that she lived with her father and that he would have access to her mail. To me, this one is a bit of a gray area.
That is to say the store sent coupons but that doesn't imply knowledge of anything other than a name and an address. Given the number of ads that they mail it seems almost impossible for this to not happen just by random chance. I know I get baby ads from target and I don't have a baby. Wait, does this mean I knocked up an ex? Should I start calling all of my exs to verify pregnancy status? Oh wait that would be stupid, ads might be targeted but it is more shotgun targeting than laser targeting.
That's not to say I don't find things creepy, but if the data is obviously collectible, you should assume it's being collected.
> they're choosing to publish the data (their purchasing habits)
> simply by making the purchases
> Similarly, Google and Facebook track you to show
> you more relevant ads, and thus increase conversions.
> if the data is obviously collectible, you
> should assume it's being collected.
It seems to me that this is somewhat analogous to Facebook posting on my wall, "Hey, jgw, would you be interested in buying some of this special topical cream that is remarkably effective on certain types of rashes? Nudge, nudge."
Or Google sending me targeted advertising for anatomical adjustments by email - and casually CC a few of my friends in my address book.
That's a good point, and while I don't think that was Target's intention, the potential is certainly notable.