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Big Brother's Pizza Delivery

Posted by timothy on from the we-know-where-and-how-much dept.

Dusty Rhodes writes: "Lexis/Nexis, providers of massive database information services mostly to media, legal and law enforcement organizations, is hyping their new database service, BatchTrace, to track fugitives and deadbeats. In addition to cataloging common info such as census records, driver's license records, etc., this database includes pizza delivery records, tech support call records and grocery store discount card records. Who knew you'd need an alias to order a pizza? Pretty funny/sad stuff in the Land of the Free. What's next, a national pizza delivery ID, complete with thumbprint and DNA sample? Thanks to Britt Sandusky for pointing us to this story."

1 of 82 comments (clear)

  1. I stopped going to Safeway... by Futurepower(R) · · Score: 4, Interesting


    "... and grocery store discount card records."

    I stopped going to Safeway, since they use discount cards rather than just giving customers the price at which they want to sell without expecting to track them.

    (Discount cards do NOT provide discounts. The grocery store always sells at the price they want to sell. They merely increase the price so that people will get cards, and can then be tracked, especially if they ever use a credit or debit card in connection with a purchase.)

    I've started shopping at WinCo Foods instead. They have much lower prices, and they don't do sneaky things. WinCo Foods stores are located in California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Nevada.

    Did Safeway think that there would be no cost for them in tracking the customer?

    I've noticed that abusive companies eventually disappear, or almost disappear. At one time IBM had 90% of the PC market, but they tried to trap customers with a proprietary bus system. At one time Novell had 85% of the PC network market, but they didn't care that their software had a lot of quirks. At one time PC Magazine was a large bi-weekly magazine, but they seemed to favor some companies in their test results. If you believe these examples are representative, then you may begin to think that eventually Microsoft will be a small software company.