business data collection

TRX
November 7, 2011
15:
> There are actual bricks-and-mortar
> retailers here in Australia who'll
> ask for things like postcode
> information when you buy things in
> their stores

In the USA this practice is exemplified by "Radio Shack", which will refuse to make even a cash sale unless they get your full name, address, and phone number. I always use the address and phone number of the White House in DC.

Recently another chain store moved in to a nearby town, and the checker asked for my ZIP code. I asked why, and she said the collected information went back to HQ's marketing department, which plotted it against demographic maps to make decisions on where they might open new stores. Since the sale was anonymous (cash) I gave them the information, somewhat dazed at having received a detailed and reasonable answer to my question...

According to articles on comp.risks, some retailers are selling their surveillance camera streams to marketers, who use them to determine when and where customers stop before displays, how long they stand before a particular item, if they pick it up, etc.

Are you still anonymous if you make a cash sale? At least one retailer (Wal- Mart) tracks you from the time you enter the parking lot until you leave. Off- the-shelf license plate recognition software matches your plate number to the state's DMV database.

This data is, in most states, considered "private" and is not available for public browsing. However, my state will sell you a CD-ROM containing the entire database for $1000, last time I looked. All nicely cross-referenced, too. Apparently the privacy laws are somewhat flexible if money is involved. So they may not know precisely who you are, but chances are good you're one of a small number of people sharing that address.

The next logical step would be facial recognition software, but even just having approximate height, weight, and sex would be enough to come *very* close to identification. I'm reasonably sure my state sells driver's license information as well, based on the enormous amount of junk mail I received last time I renewed my driver's license. They'd made a minor typographical error, which I didn't point out since I didn't want to spend another interminable time waiting while they fixed it.

TRX
November 7, 2011
39:
> But I noticed lately that YouTube
> serves ads for brands whose sites I
> visited

Search "Flash cookies" and follow the steps needed to disable them for your operating system.

Basically, Flash has its own cookie system, which operates independently of the usual browser cookie system.

TRX
November 7, 2011
43:
> Not only does being observed
> change/limit your behaviour; so does
> being pinned down to only one identity.

I will agree to that, in principle. I present an appropriate subset of my identity for work-related email, for example. But it's still the same identity.

> trivially, the
> face you wear to a family wedding is
> not the same as the face you wear to
> the pub or at work to a
> parent/teacher evening.

Why should Charlie-in-a-suit be different from Charlie-with-a-beer or Charlie- in-conference?

Have I missed your point?

[introspection] I'm pretty sure that I present the same in public or private, in person, on the phone, or by mail. If I don't, I ought to.

TRX
November 7, 2011
66:
> Yes, you've missed the point.
[...]
> There are any number of good reasons
> for partitioning your identity.

What you're referring to as "identity" is what I think of as "behavior appropriate to circumstances."

I suspect we're in general agreement despite the difference in terminology.

What tripped me up is that I've known a couple of people who apparently *were* "different identities" depending on where they were and who they were talking to, definitely enough that there's probably an official psychiatric term for it. It worked for them, but it gave me the creeps.