Credit card companies are tracking shoppers like never before: Inside the next phase of surveillance

[Newest Reality]

Credit card companies are tracking shoppers like never before: Inside the next phase of surveillance capitalism

In the battle between data brokers and privacy advocates, the latest front is the credit card.

On Privacy.com, shrouding your online shopping habits sounds easy: Enter your debit or bank account information, and the website generates a virtual debit card. This so-called burner card acts as a buyer by proxy, keeping your name and billing address out of view. Simply type its number, expiration date, and CVV code into any e-commerce site, hit purchase, and Privacy takes over. The service charges your actual card, adds those funds to the burner one, and uses the new card to do the actual shopping.

The promise is appealing. The card can be configured so that retailers can’t tack on any additional charges, such as an automatic subscription fee. If the retailer’s site gets hacked, you just ditch the burner and move on. And if anyone involved in the transaction tries to sell your data, the only card information they’ll have is that the purchase came from Privacy.

This isn’t the only service offering to mask people’s transactions. Last August, Apple introduced the Apple Card, a Goldman Sachs–issued, no-number credit card that won’t track your purchases. Privacy and other upstart software companies such as FigLeaf and Abine are working on burner cards and other technologies, such as password managers and browser extensions that cloak your web surfing. Offline, consumers have always been able to buy things anonymously with cash. But online, it’s a different story. “We want to give consumers the control to say, ‘I love doing business with you, I want to participate on the internet—I just want to do it on my terms,’?” says Abine cofounder Rob Shavell.

We’ve become accustomed to the grim fact that nearly every major advertiser, website, and personal device maker collects and monitors users’ data to some extent. Some do it for their own purposes. Others do it in the service of various algorithmic spymasters, such as Facebook or Google, which analyze vast arrays of personal information—from social media likes to GPS locations—to serve up relevant ads. (Fast Company, like many other media outlets, tracks reader data for advertising purposes.)

https://www.fastcompany.com/90490923/credit-card-companies-are-tracking-shoppers-like-never-before-inside-the-next-phase-of-surveillance-capitalism

Bonus Video:
Shoshana Zuboff on surveillance capitalism | VPRO Documentary

[msongs]

1. and what do these miracle worker sites get out of all this...and from whom? nt

[abqtommy]

3. The card companies are paid directly by the stores/restaurants/gas stations that honor the cards.

Which by default results in us consumers paying more for goods and services. That's capitalism for you.

[abqtommy]

2. In the past I've been very happy that this tracking occurs ever since I was contacted by people

who did it and notified me that my card number had been used fraudulently, reimbursed my account
and closed out the misused account and sent me a new card. I have no problem with this older process
or this newer one so long as it is operated with the best interests and protections of us consumers in mind.

And there have been a few times when I dealt with a questionable company online and canceled the card
I used and requested a new one, just to stay safe.

My only inconvenience with this experience was that I had to make sure I had cash on hand for shopping
for a few weeks until I got my new card and I can handle that.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

4. I pay cash most of the time.

For one thing, it's the best way to keep track of my spending. And keep from overspending.

Yes, I do have a credit card, which I use for various high-ticket items. But day-to-day it's cash.

[2naSalit]

5. I do it a little differently...

I go to the ATM, get out some cash for free, then go to the chain grocery store and buy a gift credit card for whatever amount, the only fee is a $5 activation fee at purchase. Then I go online and buy what I want with no concern about my debit card or banking info getting involved. I usually get the card in an amount close to that of the purchase so there won't be much left over if it gets hacked or whatever. And what's left comes in handy when at the grocery store and I am short on funds.

[hunter]

6. The guys I buy my plutonium from don't take credit cards.

[Chainfire]

7. Years ago I accepted

the fact that there is no privacy any more. It is like accepting your own mortality as a fact, not a theory. I have learned to not worry about it. I would think that people who did worry about privacy would never post their thoughts on public forums.

I live what many others would consider a very boring life, if they want to peek in my life's window, so be it. I don't like it, but I have to live with it; it is a fact that I can not change.