One more reason to withdraw into the compound: Off-topic discussion forum: Grassroots Motorsports Magazine

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Oct. 25, 2011 8:27 p.m. Giant Purple Snorklewacker SuperDork

Visa, MasterCard to use buying history for ad targeting
Oct. 25, 2011 8:34 p.m. N Sperlo Dork

Got rid of my cards years ago.
Oct. 25, 2011 8:35 p.m. Streetwiseguy Dork

I'm sure there is an element of Big Brother in this stuff....On the other hand, if my purchase history suggests that I buy a lot of Goodyear race tires, and Visa sends me an ad suggesting that Goodyear race tires are on sale this week, where is the downside?

And if it would somehow eliminate all the boner pill ads I don't need (yet) that would just be a bonus.
Oct. 25, 2011 8:35 p.m. Giant Purple Snorklewacker SuperDork

N Sperlo wrote:

Got rid of my cards years ago.

Those Hershey kisses look less appetizing than I recall.
Oct. 25, 2011 8:37 p.m. procker Reader

In reply to Giant Purple Snorklewacker: Haha, looks like the Tin Man E36 M3 on their heads haha!

But seriously, this is not good. I like the ads for Victoria Secret and free iPod nanos and music ringtones that pop up at random!
Oct. 25, 2011 8:41 p.m. Toyman01 SuperDork

I've been switching over to cash lately. About the only thing I use a debit card for anymore is gas.
Oct. 25, 2011 8:47 p.m. Giant Purple Snorklewacker SuperDork

Streetwiseguy wrote:

I'm sure there is an element of Big Brother in this stuff....On the other hand, if my purchase history suggests that I buy a lot of Goodyear race tires, and Visa sends me an ad suggesting that Goodyear race tires are on sale this week, where is the downside?

And if it would somehow eliminate all the boner pill ads I don't need (yet) that would just be a bonus.

It isn't a "big brother" thing - it is a selling people's purchase history for profit to anyone thing. It is a privacy thing. Suppose you don't really want "random company X that requests your history in exchange for dollars" to know that you need nitroglycerin tablets to survive or that you once paid 50k to Heidi Fleiss for a Saudi national?

I actually don't have a Visa, Mastercard, Discover, etc... I use an Amex for business though as well as any online stuff I can't call and order or paypal. I don't actually have anything I would be concerned about but... who knows... maybe I wouldn't want just anyone to know that I have a lot of expensive tools, car stuff and I travel away from home a lot.
Oct. 25, 2011 9:26 p.m. carguy123 SuperDork

maybe I wouldn't want just anyone to know that I have a lot of expensive tools, car stuff and I travel away from home a lot.

Whoops!
Oct. 25, 2011 10:00 p.m. Josh Dork

"Honey... this is going to sound weird, but, do you have any idea why all of the sudden there are so many ads on the internet for horse porn?"
Oct. 25, 2011 10:29 p.m. turboswede SuperDork

Uh, this is nothing new. The larger stores, banks and credit card companies (including the processing companies between the stores, banks and the credit card companies) have been doing this for quite a while.

Not too mention many websites you subscribe to (if its free on the internet, nine times out of ten, you are paying for it with your personal information)

You know those club cards that the stores want you to use? Yeah, they're tracking your purchases in their stores.

I think Wired did a article a while back about trying to drop off the face of the earth and found that it was quite difficult and still be an upstanding member of society.
Oct. 25, 2011 11:21 p.m. carguy123 SuperDork

The Club cards aren't nearly as bad as the grocery store cards. There was a grocery store here that used their purchases to fight lawsuit where the customer fell and hurt herself. Store cameras caught it all but the grocery store argued she was drunk because of all the alcoholic beverages she'd bought recently. Turns out they were having a party.
Oct. 25, 2011 11:25 p.m. fasted58 SuperDork

I'm at a point where I naturally assume almost everything I do in life will have some record... and what doesn't have that potential anymore. Buying habits and purchases, web searches and posts, GPS locations via phone or vehicle, vehicle black boxes, street and red light cams, credit history, medical records etc. all have the potential for misuse... but we sure love the technology (and convenience) that brought us to this scrutiny and we're more than likely not to give it up... in fact, we look forward to more tech.

Privacy rights should be a major issue in this country now.. but people are too busy twittering their business to the world to notice
Oct. 25, 2011 11:43 p.m. DoctorBlade Dork

I just amuse myself at someone puzzling out my purchase history and trying to figure out why I got what I got when I got it.