PSA: don't install apps for fast food places on your phones. That app collects huge amounts of data about you and they're profiling users including their "preferences, characteristics, psychological trends, predispositions, behavior, attitudes, intelligence, abilities, or aptitudes." It continuously tracks your location even when you aren't using the app or haven't used it in ages. They use your credit card info to track your purchase history/spending habits and they try to determine how much money you have.
This seems like a great way to set prices according to how munch money they think you have or based on what you normally purchase. You might end up being charged more for the same items than they're charging the person who pulls in after you.
No discount on their shitty food is worth the intimate details of your life. They sure aren't collecting all that information because they want to make less money off of you. Stop giving them the valuable information they need to take more of your money.
If you only use the app how would you know? What happens when they take the menu board away and force you to use their app. How would you know then?
Maybe you really are getting %15 off on your french fries today, but you'll pay for those fries again and again every time they (or someone else) uses the data they collected against you. That data never goes away. It'll be used against you for the rest of your life. They only collect it in the first place because they know that it'll let them take more of your money from you. What a short term/short sighted "deal".
Similarly, I was shocked when I used a logged out browser in Incognito mode and found that prices on Amazon were always a couple of dollars cheaper than what I was being presented as a Prime Member when logged in. So much for "free Prime shipping".
My collective action was, they got too expensive, so I stopped even considering them. I can go sit down at a dive bar and get served better for food the same price.
Because databases aren't a thing right? And all that matters is the tendency to integrate large fatasets right now; which is where these systems become increasingly insidious.
The OS won't let them track your location when you're not using it. They'll profile you based on your credit card info whether you use the app or not. And they need bulk data for psychological profiling, it doesn't make any difference whether you as an individual opt in or out.
The mom-and-pop places that people who make a fuss about these kind of business practices tend to love do all the things that those people claim to hate - track their customers, try to figure out how much money they have, offer special treatment to particular customers, notice where else their customers spend their time - so I've never quite got what exactly people are objecting to. But hey, if you don't want the discount, more for me.
The OS won't let them track your location when you're not using it.
I can't speak to IOS but it will on android devices (with some limitations https://developer.android.com/about/versions/oreo/background...) If you give an app permission to access nearby wifi devices it can track you that way as well. If you give an app permission to use bluetooth it can track your location using that too.
They'll profile you based on your credit card info whether you use the app or not.
They might, but they'll have a lot less data to connect with your purchase history. You consent to a lot more data collection by installing their app than you do just by walking into their store and buying something,
The mom-and-pop places that people who make a fuss about these kind of business practices tend to love do all the things that those people claim to hate - track their customers, try to figure out how much money they have, offer special treatment to particular customers - so I've never quite got what exactly people are objecting to.
No one wants to be tracked by mom-and-pop places either. All this data collection means that you aren't getting a discount, you're actually being screwed over and the data they collect will continue to be used against you for the rest of your life in any way that they think will let them take more of your money or would otherwise benefit them. They aren't collecting that data and paying for the collecting/storage/use of that data for your benefit.
"Special treatment" doesn't mean what you think it does. This kind of surveillance leads to discriminatory pricing (see for example https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/A-special-price-just-f... and wendy's recent attempt at surge pricing) which companies are desperate to get consumers to accept because it stands to make them much much richer at your expense. Don't fall for this! I promise that you won't feel like you're getting "special treatment" if they get their way.
Tim Horton's has been sued for doing this exact thing [0]. They absolutely tracked when customers patronised other chains, like Burger King, which custtomers would have "consented" to. They may not have kept the data, but pulling it in the first place is a pretty good overreach.
Note that consenting to an agreement that the privacy commissioner deems illegally broad means consumers can "consent", and still allow TH to be sued and told to cut that shit right out.
Comments
PSA: don't install apps for fast food places on your phones. That app collects huge amounts of data about you and they're profiling users including their "preferences, characteristics, psychological trends, predispositions, behavior, attitudes, intelligence, abilities, or aptitudes." It continuously tracks your location even when you aren't using the app or haven't used it in ages. They use your credit card info to track your purchase history/spending habits and they try to determine how much money you have.
This seems like a great way to set prices according to how munch money they think you have or based on what you normally purchase. You might end up being charged more for the same items than they're charging the person who pulls in after you.
No discount on their shitty food is worth the intimate details of your life. They sure aren't collecting all that information because they want to make less money off of you. Stop giving them the valuable information they need to take more of your money.
"You might end up being charged more for the same items than they're charging the person who pulls in after you."
That is exactly what happens if you don't use the app.
Another PSA:
Junk foods like McD’s slowly destroys your health.
When possible avoid encouraging others to support companies like McD’s who are a net negative for the world. [0]
[0] https://act.greenpeace.org.au/mcdonalds
Edit: clarity
If you only use the app how would you know? What happens when they take the menu board away and force you to use their app. How would you know then?
Maybe you really are getting %15 off on your french fries today, but you'll pay for those fries again and again every time they (or someone else) uses the data they collected against you. That data never goes away. It'll be used against you for the rest of your life. They only collect it in the first place because they know that it'll let them take more of your money from you. What a short term/short sighted "deal".
Similarly, I was shocked when I used a logged out browser in Incognito mode and found that prices on Amazon were always a couple of dollars cheaper than what I was being presented as a Prime Member when logged in. So much for "free Prime shipping".
Hotels and plane tickets can cost more if you're using a mac too. They figure if you can pay for an overpriced PC you can pay for an overpriced trip. https://www.forbes.com/sites/adriankingsleyhughes/2012/06/26...
Even if you're right, this is a collective action problem. My actions alone will not affect whether they switch to 100% personalized pricing.
Our actions together will, so let's act together to reject discriminatory pricing and invasive surveillance where we can, for as long as we still can.
My collective action was, they got too expensive, so I stopped even considering them. I can go sit down at a dive bar and get served better for food the same price.
Correct, but your action exacerbates the situation since you are encouraging others to sign up to the app to save some money on junk food.
Data rots and everything is lost eventually. It is not forever.
Because databases aren't a thing right? And all that matters is the tendency to integrate large fatasets right now; which is where these systems become increasingly insidious.
The OS won't let them track your location when you're not using it. They'll profile you based on your credit card info whether you use the app or not. And they need bulk data for psychological profiling, it doesn't make any difference whether you as an individual opt in or out.
The mom-and-pop places that people who make a fuss about these kind of business practices tend to love do all the things that those people claim to hate - track their customers, try to figure out how much money they have, offer special treatment to particular customers, notice where else their customers spend their time - so I've never quite got what exactly people are objecting to. But hey, if you don't want the discount, more for me.
I can't speak to IOS but it will on android devices (with some limitations https://developer.android.com/about/versions/oreo/background...) If you give an app permission to access nearby wifi devices it can track you that way as well. If you give an app permission to use bluetooth it can track your location using that too.
They might, but they'll have a lot less data to connect with your purchase history. You consent to a lot more data collection by installing their app than you do just by walking into their store and buying something,
No one wants to be tracked by mom-and-pop places either. All this data collection means that you aren't getting a discount, you're actually being screwed over and the data they collect will continue to be used against you for the rest of your life in any way that they think will let them take more of your money or would otherwise benefit them. They aren't collecting that data and paying for the collecting/storage/use of that data for your benefit.
"Special treatment" doesn't mean what you think it does. This kind of surveillance leads to discriminatory pricing (see for example https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/A-special-price-just-f... and wendy's recent attempt at surge pricing) which companies are desperate to get consumers to accept because it stands to make them much much richer at your expense. Don't fall for this! I promise that you won't feel like you're getting "special treatment" if they get their way.
Android asks you whether you want to give an app the permission to get your location.
Tim Horton's has been sued for doing this exact thing [0]. They absolutely tracked when customers patronised other chains, like Burger King, which custtomers would have "consented" to. They may not have kept the data, but pulling it in the first place is a pretty good overreach.
Note that consenting to an agreement that the privacy commissioner deems illegally broad means consumers can "consent", and still allow TH to be sued and told to cut that shit right out.
[0] https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/tim-hortons-app-report-1.64...