Google’s new program to track shoppers sparks a federal privacy complaint

WaPo ^ | July 30, 2017 | Elizabeth Dwoskin, Craig Timberg

[upchuck]

A prominent privacy rights watchdog is asking the Federal Trade Commission to investigate a new Google advertising program that ties consumers’ online behavior to their purchases in brick-and-mortar stores.

The legal complaint from the Electronic Privacy Information Center, to be filed with the FTC on Monday, alleges that Google is newly gaining access to a trove of highly sensitive information -- the credit and debit card purchase records of the majority of U.S. consumers -- without revealing how they got the information or giving consumers meaningful ways to opt out. Moreover, the group claims that the search giant is relying on a secretive technical method to protect the data -- a method that should be audited by outsiders and is likely vulnerable to hacks or other data breaches.

“Google is seeking to extend its dominance from the online world to the real, offline world, and the FTC really needs to look at that,” said Marc Rotenberg, the organization’s executive director.

...

The Washington Post detailed Google's program, Store Sales Measurement, in May. Executives have hailed it as a “revolutionary” breakthrough in advertisers’ abilities to track consumer behavior. The company said that, for the first time, it would be able to prove, with a high degree of confidence, that clicks on online ads led to purchases at the cash register of physical stores.

To do this, Google said it had obtained access to the credit and debit card records of 70 percent of U.S. consumers. It had then developed a mathematical formula that would anonymize and encrypt the transaction data, and then automatically match the transactions to the millions of U.S. users of Google and Google-owned services such as Gmail, search, YouTube and maps. This approach prevents Google from accessing the credit or debit card data for individuals.

[upchuck]

Solution that's more anonymous than trying to opt-out: just pay cash in the store.

[upchuck]

FYI, WaPo tracks the numbers of visits you make via cookies. If you exceed some number, WaPo puts up a welcoming screen telling your article count has been exceeded and invites you to subscribe.

Yeah, like I’m gonna subscribe to the Compost :)

If you have this problem, solve it by deleting all WaPo cookies.

[RushIsMyTeddyBear]

Exactly.

[SaveFerris]

[just pay cash in the store]

But are you carrying your cellphone, citizen? I have two cheap phones - one with 4G, I think - it was $20 discounted. I have another one - it was $8.92 3G (WM) discounted - cheaper than the $8.99 or $9.99 I paid at WM for an old-style phone. I use it for the work phone for employer contacts. Google is REQUIRED to make both phones work to their fullest. I'm somewhat anonymous (pun not intended) on each but still knowing they ain't 100% that way.

[upchuck]

Don’t have a cell phone. Sorry. If I did it would be in a RFD case unless I was using it.

That’s some awesome robot action. Kinda scary, too.

[SaveFerris]

Ask yourself why Google’s Boston Dynamics was creating things like this (meaning a bit out of place for internet pursuits, no?). I just read Boston Dynamics was sold to the Japanese. The robot above is from Boston Dynamics, IIRC.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-h5qpXO3isM

[Ingtar]

without revealing how they got the information or giving consumers meaningful ways to opt out.

I suspect they got the information from some of the onerous reporting required in Dodd-Frank.

[UnwashedPeasant]

Google is now spying on people who are not using Google services.

[GailA]

They track the news stories/searches you read on your phone. Amazon tracks your taste in purchases then emails you bargains or what they think you might like. And I don’t use a CC, I use gift cards for online shopping. Any place you shop on line does the same with cookies.