Profiling by grocery receipts?

www.msnbc.com...

so it looks like they'll soon be conducting background checks before you get on a plane. What a joke....I cant believe this is all happening, it simply amazes me. OHH no!!! I have crappy credit...I'm a terrorist!!!! Ohh no...I have a criminal record...I'm a terrorist...I mean come on!!!

So now, because it's illegal for the gov to do it itself, they have to hire private companies to do it. This is just getting out of hand.

Welcome to 1984. Just 20 years later than expected...

Nothing new.

Back in the early 1990's, a small company (JTS Check Out Solutions) out of Rochester, NY, made up of tech people who left a grocery store chain called Wegmans, built a sophisticated computerized check-out system. It's the basis of nearly every store bonus-card system used in the U.S. today. It has the ability to build an accurate profile on you, with just your first four major grocery orders. The profile includes race, income, number in household, pets, cars, health, regional demographics, age, estimated credit rating, and much more. The purpose is for targeted marketing of follow-up offers.

Marketers have been doing sophisticated profiling for over 10 years. Why? Because it works. People respond to promotions that are tailored to them.

It's too late to worry about this.

[Edited on 2-4-2003 by William]

Well, if it spreads to China, Estragon's in trouble!
ESTRAGON'S BILL

rice 5 rmb
vegetables 6 rmb
meat 20 rmb
fish 15 rmb
Tsingtao Beer 500 rmb
Hei Shu Beer 500 rmb
Yu Run aspirin 50 rmb
Yan Jing Red Beer 500 rmb


[Edited on 2-4-2003 by Estragon]