Yeah, Z, that's true, but I think it's more about all those people who already have a card whose information was turned over to the government without their knowledge.
-Jag
Of course, the really scary part is trying to figure out what the hell the government wants with my grocery list...
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You'd think they would find better ways to invade our privacy. What are they worried about? Maybe they've put mind-controlling drugs in Coke, and want to keep tabs on how far along people are in the brainwashing process.
The only thing I can seriously think of is to see if people are buying bomb-making materials. But who the hell would pay for that with their card?
Truth to tell, I don't use those supermarket discount-club cards anyway -- not because I fear the FBI, but because of two things:
1) Targeted advertising. I don't need flyers showing up in my mailbox reading "HELLO JEFF, WE NOTICED YOU BOUGHT PRODUCT X RECENTLY. TRY PRODUCTS A, B, C, D, E..."
2) If they want to put something on sale, they should PUT IT ON SALE, not barter the discount in return for information. I don't shop much at the local Genuardi's chain, ever since they got bought out by Safeway and started doing that crap. The Acme up the road only makes a few items Club specials each week; Genuardi's does it with ALL their discounted items.
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Originally posted by JakegnosisYou'd think they would find better ways to invade our privacy. What are they worried about? Maybe they've put mind-controlling drugs in Coke, and want to keep tabs on how far along people are in the brainwashing process.
I always heard there was some form of mind control device in their vending machines. I wonder how true that is.
I had this worked up as a conspiracy theory where I worked for months without catching any kind of word about it until just now. This sounds suspiciously like the place I used to work at, actually... wouldn't be surprised at all. (Hours and hours of scanning groceries makes you think like this.) Moral of this story? They normally have a card at the checkout register - use that instead.
(BTW, Z, I don't think they were talking about any kind of payment loyalty cards, from what I've seen, those are rare and not worth following. Not when you can get the big one.)
Hell of it is, you'll notice they didn't say exactly which grocery store chain it was.
It is somewhat frightening that I could buy stuff to make a cake and also stuff to fix my transmission at the same grocery store (for example), and the government could jump to conclusions and discover that I must be planning to build a pipe bomb.
(Note: I have no idea how to make a pipe bomb, or even what they're made of, but I do know that they're made of everyday household items).
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Originally posted by CRZHey, guess what? You don't have to get a card. You can choose a different grocery store. You can pay with cash. Honestly, some people are so LAZY.
Now why should someone have to change their spending habits just because the government is made up of nosey, paranoid fools with no respect for any right to privacy?
Oops, there I go, hating on America again because I value the rights this country promises me.
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Originally posted by CRZHey, guess what? You don't have to get a card. You can choose a different grocery store. You can pay with cash. Honestly, some people are so LAZY.
Now why should someone have to change their spending habits just because the government is made up of nosey, paranoid fools with no respect for any right to privacy?
Oops, there I go, hating on America again because I value the rights this country promises me.
(edited by TheBucsFan on 17.8.02 1225)
Hey, I stopped talking about this two weeks ago!
I never said I was FOR the government swiping the database.
What I said was you shouldn't be so incredibly naive as to not know what you're getting into the minute you let the store track your purchases. You have two choices - you can be complacent and let it happen to you, or you can vote with your wallet and go to a store that will give you fair prices without asking you to forfeit your privacy.
Me, I don't mind saving a few pennies here and there and so I'll let Safeway pay me for their market research. "But what if they gave that information to the government?!?!" you cry. Well.....I guess I don't really care. I've got nothing to hide and I'm not going to stand out. "But it's the PRINCIPLE of the thing!!!!!" you cry. Well.....I guess I'm picking my battles and this ain't one of 'em. Like I said, I knew what I was getting into when I signed up for the card, so I can't really complain about the horse disappearing when I went ahead and opened the barn door for him.
Ultimately, I don't think it's going to help put any terrorists behind bars and they'll find other ways to make you complain, but I'd love to be proven wrong - on both counts. ;-)
Edit: On a more serious note, CRZ is right, to a degree. This isn't the biggest of deals, as the govt. is almost definitely not going to find anything useful through this, but that raises the question of "why are they doing this?" It really doesn't make sense. It seems like a completely irrational and unneccessary breach of our privacy.
The other thing you can do, which can be passibly worth a laugh is to regularly swap your store points cards whenver you use up the majority of the points on it. Oh, the confusion when you suddenly switch from a vegetarian-only diet to pate fois grais and black pudding every night.
I've never really seen the point of them, since they have a large wodge of data from the EPOS tills anyway, and the migratory habits of shoppers surely can't be *that* interesting.