I spent the last few years working in a bookstore, and I would argue that your purchase is never really "anonymous" unless you pay with cash and avoid using any kind of "frequent reader" card.
At my store, we had to retain all receipts for some set period (I can't remember exactly -- at least 12 months) for accounting reasons. Now, we did not have an integrated credit card system on our Point of Sale system, so the itemized sales receipt and the credit card slip were separate pieces of paper, but there were identifying marks written on the credit card receipts that allowed them to be tracked back to the itemized register receipt (which listed the titles purchased).
So, no matter what was going on in the computer, as long as the paper copies of both receipts were still extant, you could track the purchases of specific books back to a credit card number. If a store has an integrated Credit Card/POS, then the credit card number and the book titles are on the same piece of paper, so it's even easier.
As others have said here, pay cash and you've got no problems (short of surveillance cameras that show you purchasing the books;-) ).
My wife and I pay for almost everything we buy at retail or in restaurants with a credit card to rack up frequent flyer miles, and I ocassionally get paranoid about this (my paranoia seems to vary in direct proportion to the amount of time spent reading slashdot). But at least I'm aware of the fact that I am trading the privacy of my purchases for something else of value to me (airline miles), the convenience of not having to carry much cash or make change, and the float that I get from not paying for my purchases until the next month.
What I would really like is something like the "Visa Cash" card. I get the impression that there is nothing like this available in the U.S. yet?
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I spent the last few years working in a bookstore, and I would argue that your purchase is never really "anonymous" unless you pay with cash and avoid using any kind of "frequent reader" card.
At my store, we had to retain all receipts for some set period (I can't remember exactly -- at least 12 months) for accounting reasons. Now, we did not have an integrated credit card system on our Point of Sale system, so the itemized sales receipt and the credit card slip were separate pieces of paper, but there were identifying marks written on the credit card receipts that allowed them to be tracked back to the itemized register receipt (which listed the titles purchased).
So, no matter what was going on in the computer, as long as the paper copies of both receipts were still extant, you could track the purchases of specific books back to a credit card number. If a store has an integrated Credit Card/POS, then the credit card number and the book titles are on the same piece of paper, so it's even easier.
As others have said here, pay cash and you've got no problems (short of surveillance cameras that show you purchasing the books ;-) ).
My wife and I pay for almost everything we buy at retail or in restaurants with a credit card to rack up frequent flyer miles, and I ocassionally get paranoid about this (my paranoia seems to vary in direct proportion to the amount of time spent reading slashdot). But at least I'm aware of the fact that I am trading the privacy of my purchases for something else of value to me (airline miles), the convenience of not having to carry much cash or make change, and the float that I get from not paying for my purchases until the next month.
What I would really like is something like the "Visa Cash" card. I get the impression that there is nothing like this available in the U.S. yet?