Best Buy 20 Days of Doorbusters - HD ON Dec 6

Notice: Page may contain affiliate links for which we may earn a small commission through services like Amazon Affiliates or Skimlinks.

muhfugen

Active Member
Dec 5, 2016
156
45
28
This seems retarded. I have to sign up to receive text spam to see a "deal" on something not even server related like a vacuum cleaner…
 

kapone

Well-Known Member
May 23, 2015
1,095
642
113
Repeat after me... "Data collection..Data collection..Data collection..Data collection..Data collection..". It IS retarded.

Wanna know what's even more retarded?? Retail shopping.

The other day I and my wife were at Old Navy picking up some stuff for the kids. While checking out, the first thing the checkout girl asked was, "What's your zip code?". I gave her the Director Fury one eyed stare...and said, "Why do you need that?" She blanked out completely..had NO answer to that question. Finally she said, I'll just use the store zip code. I'm like...OK..whatever.

My point is, "data collection" is so ingrained into commerce (both B2B and B2C) that it isn't even funny. All those "loyalty cards"...are nothing more than tracking mechanisms. I'd much rather pay cash, higher prices (yeah, about that 10% discount for using the loyalty card..) and have no monitoring.

One of these days, I'm gonna start using a mask when I go shopping...just to see how they react... :p:p
 

WANg

Well-Known Member
Jun 10, 2018
1,302
967
113
46
New York, NY
Repeat after me... "Data collection..Data collection..Data collection..Data collection..Data collection..". It IS retarded.

Wanna know what's even more retarded?? Retail shopping.

The other day I and my wife were at Old Navy picking up some stuff for the kids. While checking out, the first thing the checkout girl asked was, "What's your zip code?". I gave her the Director Fury one eyed stare...and said, "Why do you need that?" She blanked out completely..had NO answer to that question. Finally she said, I'll just use the store zip code. I'm like...OK..whatever.

My point is, "data collection" is so ingrained into commerce (both B2B and B2C) that it isn't even funny. All those "loyalty cards"...are nothing more than tracking mechanisms. I'd much rather pay cash, higher prices (yeah, about that 10% discount for using the loyalty card..) and have no monitoring.

One of these days, I'm gonna start using a mask when I go shopping...just to see how they react... :p:p
Oh, yeah. At least you didn't have to endure the joys of going through rows upon rows of similar fabrics inside a harsh cheerless room, and then snake through rows of impulse purchase items at the delibrately long check-out queue - the missus loves that and I hate it with passion. IKEA and TJX stores (TJ Maxx/Marshalls/HomeGoods) you are the bane of my married IT guy existence. I wear, the day when I can talk to an apparels systems integrator about my wardrobe needs for the year, negotiate the pricing on a years-worth of clothing, arrange buy-hold-and-ship (or at least make it as easy as an Amazon four-stars store) will be a very happy day for me.
 

Patrick

Administrator
Staff member
Dec 21, 2010
12,511
5,792
113
On the OP... I hope more 10TB externals!

@WANg sounds like you need to have a Google Glass/ Magic Leap style AR app development so you can provide algorithmic feedback. I am *sure* that will go over well.
 

WANg

Well-Known Member
Jun 10, 2018
1,302
967
113
46
New York, NY
On the OP... I hope more 10TB externals!

@WANg sounds like you need to have a Google Glass/ Magic Leap style AR app development so you can provide algorithmic feedback. I am *sure* that will go over well.
Well, shit. Now I'll need a couple of Eypc 2/Rome serves and a few RTX2080s to mine me some crypto-coin to pay for all this newfound fashion consciousness. Alright, CDW, get your shit together, we are hitting Nordstroms for some new threads. I heard sharkskin is what they wear at all the hottest data center break rooms.

Also, yeesh, buying externals to shuck for cheap(er) storage is not my idea of fun for the holidays - already did plenty of damage to my wallet converting the machines at home to SSD this past Friday...but on happier news, both of my PowerBook G4s are now fully SSD!
 
Last edited:

amalurk

Active Member
Dec 16, 2016
311
116
43
102
They ask for your zip code because most people can be matched unqiuely with the name from the credit card swipe +zip code to purchased marketing databases. So then they can build a profile and send you targeted junk in the mail and share your purchases with their affiliates. There are companies linking this with online advertising and even using mac ids caputed in store from cellphones.

There have already been lawsuits about the ZIP code collection, here is an early one:
Crate & Barrel Reaches ZIP Code Settlement

Repeat after me... "Data collection..Data collection..Data collection..Data collection..Data collection..". It IS retarded.

Wanna know what's even more retarded?? Retail shopping.

The other day I and my wife were at Old Navy picking up some stuff for the kids. While checking out, the first thing the checkout girl asked was, "What's your zip code?". I gave her the Director Fury one eyed stare...and said, "Why do you need that?" She blanked out completely..had NO answer to that question. Finally she said, I'll just use the store zip code. I'm like...OK..whatever.

My point is, "data collection" is so ingrained into commerce (both B2B and B2C) that it isn't even funny. All those "loyalty cards"...are nothing more than tracking mechanisms. I'd much rather pay cash, higher prices (yeah, about that 10% discount for using the loyalty card..) and have no monitoring.

One of these days, I'm gonna start using a mask when I go shopping...just to see how they react... :p:p
 
  • Like
Reactions: drabadue

kapone

Well-Known Member
May 23, 2015
1,095
642
113
They ask for your zip code because most people can be matched unqiuely with the name from the credit card swipe +zip code to purchased marketing databases. So then they can build a profile and send you targeted junk in the mail and share your purchases with their affiliates. There are companies linking this with online advertising and even using mac ids caputed in store from cellphones.

There have already been lawsuits about the ZIP code collection, here is an early one:
Crate & Barrel Reaches ZIP Code Settlement
Oh, I know why they ask for it.

My point was that we as consumers don't have to give it, and yet most people, naively, think that it is required/ok to give/don't care/whatever.

If I'm buying something from someone, all they need to know is, am I paying for it or not. Period.
 

amalurk

Active Member
Dec 16, 2016
311
116
43
102
Oh, I know why they ask for it.

My point was that we as consumers don't have to give it, and yet most people, naively, think that it is required/ok to give/don't care/whatever.

If I'm buying something from someone, all they need to know is, am I paying for it or not. Period.
Agreed. It took me years to get my wife to think before just automatically answering things like this. I think we actually got a merchandise credit from the Crate and Barrel settlement I linked, haha. I reminded her of it when other places ask for a zip code, now she doesn't give it out at stores.

I suspect that a lot of the hundreds to thousands of data broker companies n the US trading in consumer data are making all kinds of minor violations of state privacy laws. Does anyone doubt that there is likely one company a day that does business in California that is failing to report a data breach under the CA reporting law? However, the breached company is typically the only one that knows they are breached and aren't reporting it. Thus, there is no way to identify and call them on it.

Whatever part of State government in California is in charge of the data breach law compliance, I bet it hasn't even sent out a survey to companies to poke them into compliance. When really it should be making their officers certify they are complying under penalty of perjury with their corporate statement of information filed yearly or something like that. Wouldn't that be a hoot. Can you imagine how many breach disclosures we would see in the month before something like that went into effect!

If some rich benefactor wants to give me a grant to hire a couple of law students to really make a shitstorm about internet privacy and advertising, I would totally do it. The problem is finding ones with enough working knowledge of how the internet works behind the scenes is tough. If they don't understand that and the terms used they cannot interpret the technical and marketing speak to understand what these companies are really doing, how they are collecting and sharing data. That is why journalists suck at reporting on it, not enough technical knowledge. So basically it is left to some academic with an interest at an internet and privacy center at a law school, the EFF or similar. While both those do good jobs, it is nowhere near sufficient for the insane level of collection and sharing going on of consumer data.

Okay, I will stop now, way off topic. I could go on and on and on. :p
 

Dawg10

Associate
Dec 24, 2016
220
114
43
If you wish to get a taste of just how bad datasharing has become, load up the Firefox Lightbeam extension and let it run for a few days.

But try not to get too depressed... Use the knowledge to start/ continue shutting down the information leakage.
 
  • Like
Reactions: drabadue

Churchill

Admiral
Jan 6, 2016
838
213
43
I couldn't see blowing $2000 on replacing all my hard drives for an additional 12TB of space...