"Every Click You Make " Re: [IP] BT admits tracking 18,000 users with Phorm systems in 2006 - and every swipe

[David Farber <dave@farber.net>]

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From: Bob Frankston [bob37-2@bobf.frankston.com]
Sent: Friday, April 04, 2008 10:10 AM
To: David Farber; 'ip'
Subject: RE: "Every Click You Make " Re: [IP] BT admits tracking 18,000 users with Phorm systems in 2006 - and every swipe

What about the tend to issue rebates via credit/debit cards? What is done with all the information collected? Of course tracking is the norm anyway but this another example of creepy mission creep.

Of course this approach has another insidious side-effect -- breakage. Unlike cash which is easy to top off with more cash you find yourself leaving an unknown amount on the card because you aren't sure of the amount and it's hard to find a purchase to us up the remaining amount. And, unlike cash, they expire. Given that so much rebate money isn’t even requested it all adds up to a nice way of reducing the apparent price but leaving the effective price high.

Remember that there are hordes of people whose entire job is figuring out how to monetize every aspect of your existence and I don’t want to judge them – after all, in various roles I can be one of them. I mean us.


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