Google and Mastercard Cut a Secret Ad Deal to Track Retail Sales

(Bloomberg) -- For the past year, select Google advertisers have had access to a potent new tool to track whether the ads they ran online led to a sale at a physical store in the U.S. That insight came thanks in part to a stockpile of Mastercard transactions that Google paid for. But most of the two billion Mastercard holders aren’t aware of this behind-the-scenes tracking. That’s because the companies never told the public about the arrangement. Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Mastercard Inc. brokered a business partnership during about four years of negotiations, according to four people with knowledge of the deal, three of whom worked on it directly. The alliance gave Google an unprecedented asset for measuring retail spending, part of the search giant’s strategy to fortify its primary business against onslaughts from Amazon.com Inc. and others. But the deal, which has not been previously reported, could raise broader privacy concerns about how much consumer data technology companies like Google quietly absorb. "People don’t expect what they buy physically in a store to be linked to what they are buying online,” said Christine Bannan, counsel with the advocacy group Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC). "There’s just far too much burden that companies place on consumers and not enough responsibility being taken by companies to inform users what they’re doing and what rights they have.”

I could see how this may help a consumer get what they need quicker. The secrecy has got to go

www.bloombergquint.com...

a reply to: Sabrechucker

And keep in mind this is only what is released to the public.

Imagine what Google is doing behind the scenes...

a reply to: vinifalou

Scary, They are working with other companies/agencies to know every last thing about everyone. What they do with that?

a reply to: Sabrechucker
The secrecy has to go?
What are you talking about?
This is a disaster that ends any privacy or annonymity in shopping anywhere, not just internet sales!

a reply to: TonyS

I'm talking about what your talking about. It's a disaster

I didn't mean our secrecy/privacy...Theirs

It's not surprising, it's all worth something to the corporates.

A possible solution would be to give people ownership of their details, then they could decide themselves whether or not they want their details marketed

Did anyone really think that a cashless economy and smart electric meters are for the benefit of the American people?

I'm an atheist but there are a few things in religion that I feel should not be ignored.

The mark of the beast will be in ones and zeros...

a reply to: Zcustosmorum

That is a very interesting idea. They would find a way to violate that too most likely

Are people so naive that they still think there is any privacy left? That cat has long left the bag. Everything you buy on any debt or credit card is stored and that information is going to be used by marketers. Period. End of story. You trade privacy for convenience.

Not only that, but law enforcement also has access to those records.

Next step is pre-crime. With big data from billions of transactions they will be able to tell you are going to commit a crime, file for divorce, or any other behaviors before you even know you will do it yourself.

a reply to: Edumakated


Hey! Let's send our DNA to ancestry to find out where we came from and to give cops a genetic sample to compare to crime scenes...

Cops solved a 30 year old murder case a few months ago by using one of those companies.
The killers brother send his DNA to them....

originally posted by: Bluntone22
a reply to: Edumakated


Hey! Let's send our DNA to ancestry to find out where we came from and to give cops a genetic sample to compare to crime scenes...

Cops solved a 30 year old murder case a few months ago by using one of those companies.
The killers brother send his DNA to them....

Yup.

Of course, just wait until you try to run for political office... some how your home IP address is going to get leaked and your kinky porn browsing history will be public knowledge.

Everyone is being tracked. Your car. That fancy nav system in the car is tracking everything. Your cell phone is just a fancy ankle bracelet.

There is no real privacy left. None. Anyone who believes that is a fool. They are also making it harder and harder to completely get off grid and function.

a reply to: Edumakated

The rear assist camera in new vehicle's gives them a lot of info too

a reply to: Edumakated

Right. Privacy is near totally gone. I just have to laugh when I need to put in my ''security password' to get into anything on line. How the letters I just typed into the space provided automatically disappear when I type the next letter and that one when typing the next so that by the time I am finished, there is nothing there to read but asterisks. Yeah, for my protection. Such bullcrap.

a reply to: Bluntone22

The loss of privacy is a non-partisan issue, it crosses all the phony political lines.

a reply to: Edumakated

Next step is pre-crime. With big data from billions of transactions they will be able to tell you are going to commit a crime, file for divorce, or any other behaviors before you even know you will do it yourself.

You are one scary dude Ed, but I think you are right. I don't think the big '' crackdown'' has come yet, needing at least one more big event to make the majority believe it is in their interests to do so. But my question is, which party will be in charge when it happens, not that I think it will or will not happen because of which party is in power at the time.

I think that the two camps that are now visible, the so called ''liberals'' and the so called ''conservatives'' seem neither to be capable of changing their perspectives so that when that crackdown comes, the list will become complete as to which group needs to be ''put down''.

You put information on someone else's website that they own, their digital property, and you expect them to tell you what they do with it.

There are millionaires roaming the halls of America who haven't owned a credit card in decades and probably use Duck Duck Go to get information they need. Or better still, word of mouth.

No one is forcing anyone to own a credit card or put personal information on other peoples' property (websites). People do it voluntarily and then expect the site owners to be transparent while YOU want all the privacy in the world.

You're all hypocrites who are slaves to your debts.

originally posted by: DeepImpactX
You put information on someone else's website that they own, their digital property, and you expect them to tell you what they do with it.

There are millionaires roaming the halls of America who haven't owned a credit card in decades and probably use Duck Duck Go to get information they need. Or better still, word of mouth.

No one is forcing anyone to own a credit card or put personal information on other peoples' property (websites). People do it voluntarily and then expect the site owners to be transparent while YOU want all the privacy in the world.

You're all hypocrites who are slaves to your debts.

This revelation about Google's use of credit card data to track purchases is just another amusing anecdote showing how we have completely given up our right to privacy.

For instance, those who don't use a credit or debit card are still leaking so much personal information on a continual basis that it's mostly irrelevant. From the moment we awaken in the morning to the time we go to bed at night, we are adding to the ever increasing dataset that defines who we are and how we behave.

Even if we were to go completely off-the-grid, and setup camp in the desert, we would still be subject to satellite imagery. Not to mention the fact that even attempting to minimize our electronic footprint would be enough evidence for TPTB to increase direct surveillance of us to verify that we are not a risk to national security.

Basically we give up all rights to privacy simply by making the decision to participate in society. But that's not even a decision, it's a necessary evil of modern survival.

-dex