Banks Find Way To Sell Consumers' Shopping Data

nonprofiteer writes "Banks plan to compete with Groupon and LivingSocial by targeting coupons and deals at credit card holders based on their shopping habits. They found a way to do it without violating financial privacy laws: 'They're "selling" shopping habits the same way Facebook "sells" personal data about its users: in-network. It's a clever privacy work-around. Just as Facebook allows advertisers to specifically target certain kinds of users based on their profile information (without actually providing that profile information to the advertisers), banks plan to allow advertisers to send deals and coupons to their customers based on what they've bought before. That way, no user data actually leaves the network — instead, deals just enter the network. Each time a customer cashes in on one of those deals, the bank gets a commission.'"

Comments

Re:A Technicality:

[PopeRatzo]

That would be a very specific kind of bank called an investment bank.

There is no longer a distinction between a bank and an "investment bank" in the US.

Citicorp, Bank of America, Chase, and others were given dispensation to become bank "holding companies" which allowed them to become investment banks. This was done at the time of the TARP bailouts.

The only real banks left are very small local banks. And if you look at their reports many of them are also involved with some very shaky investments.

Re:A Technicality:

[PopeRatzo]

No, they won't. That would be breaking the law and the whole point of this approach is to avoid breaking the law.

I think you missed some of the important changes that took place to the biggest banks' charters after the TARP bailouts.

The "law" is just an outdated formality to them now.

Remember when you got the email saying that by continuing to do business with the bank you are automatically agreeing to the changes in their online customer agreement?

Re:A Technicality:

[PopeRatzo]

If the bank is going to be breaking the law for their best customers, they're going to be breaking the law for their best customers.

So? Who's going to do anything about it? The Justice Department?

Did you read the article in Sunday's New York Times about the offer that's been made that if they pay $30 billion there will be no criminal prosecutions? Of course, the profited close to a trillion dollars when they brought down the US economy, so paying the $30 bil is a no-brainer. Anyway, the $30 billion would just be money we as taxpayers gave them in the bailout anyway.

Do you honestly believe the 3 or 4 largest banks in the US give a flying fuck about "the law"? Do you have any evidence of that?