Dolemite wrote:
] All the store would be able to track would be
] a spending pattern for one person, but not have any clue who
] that person really is if, say, they filled out their form as
] John Doe at 100 Main Street.

only if you pay cash all the time. The first time you pay with a debit card or credit card, you're now 'tagged' to that loyalty card.

Frankly, I don't give a shit. If Kroger wants to know that I buy spicy hot chicken tenders and beer three times a week, so be it. Fact is, if they offered me a bulk discount for annualized purchases, I'd take it. Chances are that data warehouse is so friggin huge that it would be hard to find AN individual's buying habits anyways.

] The real privacy issue is not in tracking a person at one
] location, but in matching data from multiple locations. I
] don't want people to know that I went to Blockbuster, rented
] Brazil and then went to Kroger for 3 cans of nitrous oxide
] enriched whipped cream. Somebody may think that I'm "doing
] drugs" when in fact I just invited a bunch of people over for
] movies and pie.

This is probably already happening. Do you think conglomerates share data with themselves? Do you think the continuing consolidation of corporate enterprise will amount to this? Do you think someone like Micro$oft is salivating at devising a central database service to assist 'business customers' with collecting this data?

RE: SacTicket // Nightlife // Taking license