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Google Bought Mastercard Data To Link Online Ads To Store Purchases, Says Report (bloomberg.com)
According to Bloomberg, citing people with knowledge of the deal, Google purchased "a stockpile of Mastercard transactions" that allowed Google advertisers to see whether the ads they ran online led to a sale at a physical store in the U.S. This arrangement was never shared with the public. From the report: Alphabet's Google and Mastercard brokered a business partnership during about four years of negotiations. 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 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.
Google paid Mastercard millions of dollars for the data [...] and the companies discussed sharing a portion of the ad revenue. A spokeswoman for Google said there is no revenue sharing agreement with its partners. A Google spokeswoman declined to comment on the partnership with Mastercard, but addressed the ads tool. "Before we launched this beta product last year, we built a new, double-blind encryption technology that prevents both Google and our partners from viewing our respective users' personally identifiable information," the company said in a statement. "We do not have access to any personal information from our partners' credit and debit cards, nor do we share any personal information with our partners." The company said people can opt out of ad tracking using Google's "Web and App Activity" online console. Inside Google, multiple people raised objections that the service did not have a more obvious way for cardholders to opt out of the tracking.
Google paid Mastercard millions of dollars for the data [...] and the companies discussed sharing a portion of the ad revenue. A spokeswoman for Google said there is no revenue sharing agreement with its partners. A Google spokeswoman declined to comment on the partnership with Mastercard, but addressed the ads tool. "Before we launched this beta product last year, we built a new, double-blind encryption technology that prevents both Google and our partners from viewing our respective users' personally identifiable information," the company said in a statement. "We do not have access to any personal information from our partners' credit and debit cards, nor do we share any personal information with our partners." The company said people can opt out of ad tracking using Google's "Web and App Activity" online console. Inside Google, multiple people raised objections that the service did not have a more obvious way for cardholders to opt out of the tracking.
There's no central destination. But this long line of cards is trying to get through, and this long line of cards is all because of you.
I use Visa only. Thankfully, I can rest easy knowing that'd never happen with anything but Mastercard. /s
I don't even know if Google had my credit card number or not, since I used Paypal for Google Play.
If they're going to pull this kind of thing, I'm no longer willing to give them my name or the tiny amount of money they were getting.
Nothing to hide, nothing to fear...
Is the story here that *MASTERCARD* sells all your financial transaction data around the world to lots of companies (think Cambridge Analytics etc.), or that Google buys them?
It seems to be a Mastercard story dressed up as a Google one.
Financial transactions should be covered by the same level of privacy as banking transactions, which would make this illegal to sell that data in EU, and it use to be USA had similar laws.
But given that they're selling the data, can we buy Trump/Trump family/Trump company/ card data? If he has nothing to hide, and I'm sure that's true because he keeps saying it on twitter, then he has nothing to fear.
"Bloomberg
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Your usage has been flagged as a violation of our terms of service.
Please make sure your browser supports JavaScript and cookies and that you are not blocking them from loading. "
And the linked article is just more of the same invasiveness...
Trick question. (I do that to myself.) I believe neither, ever.
Seriously, it is long past time to fire him.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
It should always be assumed that Google is spying on anything they can, that they will lie about it when feasible, and that they have no shame in doing so. This is not new. It's up to you to protect yourself.
https://www.washingtonpost.com...
https://web.archive.org/web/20...
This isn't some new behavior for Google - just an expansion of an already existing program. Google has been collecting your off-line purchases for years now. They're
boasting about it, too.
Here's a relevant quote: ...even if your business doesn't have a large loyalty program, you can still measure store sales by taking advantage of Google's third-party partnerships, which capture approximately 70% of credit and debit card transactions in the United States. So, more than two thirds of your non on-line purchases are tracked by Google and sold to all and sundry.
Of course, as a simple citizen, you get no option or recourse. Even if you haven't ever signed on with Google, even if aren't using any of their properties, or if you tried to opt out of everything, you' still can't escape their stalking. Every breath you take, every move you make, they'll be watching you.
I work for a company that links up similar data. Y'all have no idea.
Especially summary. Repetitive crap makes me feel bad. Repetitive crap makes me feel bad. Especially summary.
This is why I divested from the Google ecosystem.
Even though I paid hundreds or thousands of dollars a year, they could not decide if I was the customer or another product.
Evil!
Google is waging war on our psyche. This here is intelligence gathering, to better identify weak spots in our defenses, in preparation for an escalation of their assault.
Will we ever fight back?
Buying Phone location data and Credit card data and cross referencing them.
Now that gives you a lot of power.
we built a new, double-blind encryption technology that prevents both Google and our partners from viewing our respective users' personally identifiable information
For those who are wondering, here's how it works:
I'm a google rewards user (never paid for anything on google play - except w/ my soul), and I've been suspecting this for a while and here's why... 90% of the time after I visit any store or restaurant i get a survey request where it asks me which store i visited, nails it 99% of the time on which store i visited, and then asks me what i payment type i used to make the purchase: credit card, cash, etc... At first the surveys would ask if i would share my receipt. figuring they could then tie my purchases to my google account, I've declined to share the receipts every time they ask, and i will continue to... However recently (in the past 3 months or so) they quit asking me for a receipt. which meant either: a) they knew who i was already by my CC# or b) they were smart enough to know that i wouldn't share that info so they quit asking for it. w/e idc.., i get "free" shit on google play for putting up with better targeted ads.
Surprising some people in the tech community still defend Google. Tossup between them and Facebook for the title of creepiest company to ever exist.
The full quote is "we know everything about you. We know when you get divorced, usually before you do" This is not Google, this was a credit bureau executive who boasted it 25 years ago. It's not Google who is tracking your off-line purchases, it's the credit card companies. AND THEY SELL IT TO EVERY ONE. They have been doing it for many many years, and somehow they get a pass. No one complains.
This does not excuse Google in any way; they have more data, and they should be much more sensitive to it. But we somehow tend to complain only about the new companies and let the old behavior of the old companies continue unchecked.
People seem to miss the point about the encryption here. It's pretty clear from the description that they use some form of secure multiparty communication. This is already in use by e.g. the Estonian government to match records between various government agencies without those agencies having to share their data. What I would assume that they do is that Google has a list of customers and Mastercard has a list of customers. Google knows which customers X looked at ads at a certain point in time and Mastercard has information on which customers Y bought something in that timeframe.
What they want to compute is the set intersection of X and Y, but in such a way that Mastercard gains no information about the list X, i.e. absolutely no information from Google, while the only information Google gains from Mastercard was the information that a certain entity in X was present in Y.
In other words, this allows companies to do certain kind of joins on data across organizational boundaries, but without actually having to share the data or any subset of it.
get a SWAT team storming into your living room.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/01/new-york-police-terrorism-pressure-cooker
Especially so in Europe where the GDPR clearly forbids opt-out.
claim with no evidence - time to fire
verdict - troll, karma whore
Evil yahoo still looks at your email. Get the pitchforks!
My gf looked at a dress on my computer. She LOOKED at it.
Now I get adverts almost everywhere, and they're trying to sell me... you guessed it... a dress.
I tend to rant.
that ads lead to sales. Now they are saying that they do not know this to be true?
And how do you opt-out from Mastercard selling your private data?
If that is your justification for all the illegal stuff that went on, you are not just a moron, you are literally the most corrupt idiot on the planet.
Lets start with the DNC rigged their primary, but that's ok because a NON-GOP new outlet paid Fusion GPS.
DOJ/FBI lied to get FISA warrants, 4 times, but that's ok because an NON-GOP news outlet paid Fusion GPS.
Clinton deleted 33,000 subpoenaed emails, a week after getting the subpoena, but that's ok because a NON-GOP new outlet paid Fusion GPS.
Clinton committed 110 felonies in mishandling classified information, but that's ok because a NON-GOP new outlet paid Fusion GPS.
Clinton took $650 million in bribes for State Dept policy, but that's ok because a NON-GOP new outlet paid Fusion GPS.
Comey took DOJ power illegally as FBI director, but that's ok because a NON-GOP new outlet paid Fusion GPS.
CNN lied about Cohen flipping and what he was going to tell and refuse to retract the story, but that's ok because a NON-GOP new outlet paid Fusion GPS.
Are you seeing how stupid you are yet? If not there literally is no help for you OR your name is really Hillary Clinton.
nice
"Don't be quite as evil as some others. Maybe. Maybe not quite as evil as pimps. That's it."
Block all ads, all the time, no exceptions. If you have an ad-supported business that runs ethically, too fucking bad. The 99% of other ads ruined it for you.
What, no apologists whining (in the Jim Sterling triple-hey voice) "but that stealing"?
I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
Of course, as a simple citizen, you get no option or recourse.
This has nothing to do with being a citizen but 100% with being a consumer. Stop mixing unmixable things.
Catalin Braescu
Ofaly.com
Google.
And.
MasterCard.
In the ass.
Still wondering why I use Adblock?!?
'Big data' company uses big data... wake me when you have some actual news, please?
I am shocked but not surprise that Google and Mastercard got together to exchange very private, very personal information. These are two giant companies that decided that your private information was open to being bought and sold. No hacking company server and selling it on the dark web. No back alley meetings where a briefcase of cash is exchanged for a thumb drive of data. Just big corporations sinking to a new ethical low.
What is next, Google is going to ask BofA for my bank statements to see how much money is in my checking account so that they can display wealth appropriate ads to me?
Disclosure: I work in infosec and we treat PCI data (credit card data) like it is national security secrets. It is against everything we believe to think that anyone but the minimal number of parties have access to your data.
All the people here on slashdot that said credit card companies do not sell their transaction data, well here is the proof you were demanding. I will say it again here is one of the many reasons cryptocurrency was invented and why so many people want it to replace banks and credit card companies. Just saying.