If you're like me you can appreciate being able to save money, especially in this economy. So when I go to the grocery store (or almost any other store these days) and the cashier asks for my customer loyalty card, I don't hesitate. In fact, s/he usually doesn't have to ask as I'm ready to hand it right over. Seems innocent enough right? But just how much of my privacy am I giving up in order to save a few bucks?
I have to ask myself this question because by using my customer loyalty card the grocery store, for example, keeps track of my purchases. In gathering this data, the grocery store is better informed about my shopping habits and can even provide me with different coupons for savings on future purchases when I check out...not to mention the desire to keep me coming back. That's cool! But who else gets this information and what are they doing with it?
It's free to sign up for most of these cards, but I continue to ask myself what does "free" mean in our digital age? And while there are privacy policies about these cards, many people are expressing concerns about privacy, including groups like C.A.S.P.I.A.N (http://www.nocards.org/) that are paying close attention to the uses of customer data. Here's another interesting article in case
you're interested in more on the topic - http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2005/loyalty_cards.html.
So, when I willingly turn over my discount cards I know that every purchase is stored in a database with the date/time stamp.Hmmm... And to be honest, upon reflection, this certainly makes me feel a little more exposed. Again, I can only wonder where all of this information will eventually end up.
This acknowledgment might seem somewhat trivial to some, but as we leave longer digital trails of our electronic fingerprints, the notion of privacy seems to take on new meaning.
