[ExI] Loyalty schemes (was: Re: bitcoin used for nefarious purposes)

[Harvey Newstrom]

On Saturday, March 26, 2016 6:06 AM, Ben wrote:
> That's also my perspective as a customer. So who benefits from these
> irksome schemes? Not me, the customer, not the business, but someone
> must. Who?  Why do these schemes exist?

Loyalty schemes require you to identify yourself with your purchase.  That
allows companies to profile you and your buying habits to sell your data to
advertisers and other companies.  The stores make more money selling your
personal information than the discounts they give you.

This was included in my 2001 talk at Extro-5, "Privacy Today: The Battle for
Your Online Identity."  The topic was pretty controversial back then.
Nobody believed that corporations would track consumers or that government
would track citizens.

--
Harvey Newstrom   www.HarveyNewstrom.com