Paranoid Eyes

A while back I posted about people’s movements being tracked without their knowledge. It is still happening and is escalating.

The New York Times ran a very insightful article on How Companies Learn Your Secrets. The premise is that Target is watching what customers buy and is tailoring ads to meet their purchases. This isn’t a new scheme as most companies do this if they want to stay in business. The Internet is notorious for this type of tracking.

Some of the information Target is obtaining through customer purchases is downright creepy.

For instance:

For decades, Target has collected vast amounts of data on every person who regularly walks into one of its stores. Whenever possible, Target assigns each shopper a unique code — known internally as the Guest ID number — that keeps tabs on everything they buy. “If you use a credit card or a coupon, or fill out a survey, or mail in a refund, or call the customer help line, or open an e-mail we’ve sent you or visit our Web site, we’ll record it and link it to your Guest ID,” Pole said. “We want to know everything we can.”

Also linked to your Guest ID is demographic information like your age, whether you are married and have kids, which part of town you live in, how long it takes you to drive to the store, your estimated salary, whether you’ve moved recently, what credit cards you carry in your wallet and what Web sites you visit. Target can buy data about your ethnicity, job history, the magazines you read, if you’ve ever declared bankruptcy or got divorced, the year you bought (or lost) your house, where you went to college, what kinds of topics you talk about online, whether you prefer certain brands of coffee, paper towels, cereal or applesauce, your political leanings, reading habits, charitable giving and the number of cars you own.

Holy crap! Is nothing private anymore?

Apparently not. The most disturbing part of the article, at least for me, was this nugget:

About a year after Pole created his pregnancy-prediction model, a man walked into a Target outside Minneapolis and demanded to see the manager. He was clutching coupons that had been sent to his daughter, and he was angry, according to an employee who participated in the conversation.

“My daughter got this in the mail!” he said. “She’s still in high school, and you’re sending her coupons for baby clothes and cribs? Are you trying to encourage her to get pregnant?”

The manager didn’t have any idea what the man was talking about. He looked at the mailer. Sure enough, it was addressed to the man’s daughter and contained advertisements for maternity clothing, nursery furniture and pictures of smiling infants. The manager apologized and then called a few days later to apologize again.

On the phone, though, the father was somewhat abashed. “I had a talk with my daughter,” he said. “It turns out there’s been some activities in my house I haven’t been completely aware of. She’s due in August. I owe you an apology.”

So basically, Target knew about this young woman’s pregnancy before her own family! Wow! And all of this is perfectly legal!

The entire article is fascinating reading and I highly encourage taking the time (it is quite lengthy) to read it.

But the technology Target possesses isn’t just being used to track customers. Target is also assisting law enforcement agencies as this article from the Washington Post points out.

A few quotes:

When arson investigators in Houston needed help restoring a damaged surveillance tape to identify suspects in a fatal fire, they turned first to local experts and then to NASA. With no luck there, investigators appealed to the owner of one of the most advanced crime labs in the country: Target Corp.

Target experts fixed the tape and Houston authorities arrested their suspects, who were convicted. It was all in a day’s work for Target in its large and growing role as a high-tech partner to law enforcement agencies.

The “money” quote:

“One of the nation’s top forensics labs is located at Target’s headquarters building in downtown Minneapolis,” said FBI Special Agent Paul McCabe, who has worked with Target. “They have abilities and technology that far surpasses many law enforcement agencies in the country.”

Frankly, I’m at a loss for words. I mean I’m glad that Target is working with law enforcement but that doesn’t excuse them from spying on their customers.

I’ll remember what Target is doing when I am asked for my “customer discount card” at the next place I shop. Is saving a few dollars worth the intrusion into my privacy?