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

[William Flynn Wallace]

Nobody believed that corporations would track consumers or that government
would track citizens.  Harvey

I don't mind at all.  Amazon knows all about me because I buy tons of stuff
from them.  So when I buy or just look around they give me suggestions
based on what I've already bought.  I cannot count the times I've bought
some book or something because of that.  I think this is a great benefit.
I don't know what that engine is called - the one that makes suggestions -
but I love it.

Of course I don't like getting spam or robocalls and so I shut those off as
best I can.  Smailmail, however, is fine.  Subscribe to Organic Gardening
and you will get everything related in your mailbox next week.  Fine.  I'll
read their offers and, mostly, dump them in the trash.  I have opted out of
credit card offers (no debt), but have used them in the past.  I have even
called 800 numbers asking them to stop sending me stuff.

So for me, knowing what I have bought and sending me offers has worked out
just fine for me.

bill w

On Sat, Mar 26, 2016 at 9:05 PM, Harvey Newstrom <mail at harveynewstrom.com>
wrote:

> 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
>
>
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