Washington, DC--President Bush paid a surprise visit Thursday to the National Association of Grocery Stores (NAGS) annual convention in Omaha, Nebraska. In a short statement, the president asked all major American supermarket chains to consider opening up their membership "club card" databases to the NSA.
"By analyzing purchases made by customers of these retailers, the NSA and Homeland Security hope to identify patterns consistent with terrorist activity," said Bush. "After exhaustive interviews conducted at Guantanamo Bay over the last three years, we think we now have a pretty good idea of what these fascists like to eat."
source: Digg
When you think about it, it's pretty frightening what we can learn about you by looking at your grocery lists. Characteristics such as socioeconomic status, age, gender, race, and religion can be easily inferred by the foods you eat and the products you buy. Do you eat bacon, wear makeup, read The Economist, or take medication? With answers to these simple questions a clever data mining application can start to paint a picture of you which, over time, will become more and more accurate. Air Miles figured this out a long time ago and has been collecting consumer's purchasing habits for years - a clever idea that's spawned a goldmine of information for marketers. They, unlike the NSA, at least offer 'points' in exchange for your shopping habits which you can redeem for lovely gifts."By analyzing purchases made by customers of these retailers, the NSA and Homeland Security hope to identify patterns consistent with terrorist activity," said Bush. "After exhaustive interviews conducted at Guantanamo Bay over the last three years, we think we now have a pretty good idea of what these fascists like to eat."
source: Digg
'What's the big deal?', you ask. 'Should I really care if companies like Air Miles know what I buy? After all, I did just redeem the 3,000,000,000 point's I've been collecting over the past five years for a shiny $40 blender.' Am I saying that Air Miles has some secret Orwellian agenda? Of course not. They're just a group of clever marketers who are using this information to help them do a better job of selling you other products - Big Brother ... not so much.
However, the problem with giving up personal information, even something as seemingly innocuous as your shopping habits, is that you never know what it might be used for. Did all of the Nebraskan Shopping Club Card members check off a box on their application forms that said Please submit my grocery lists to a shadowy NSA profiling supercomputer for analysis? I think not. But, like it or not, today the US government is using that information to help fight terrorism. Are the Brown Shirts going to bust down your door because you went shopping for a new watch, a tub of hummus, and a new propane tank for the bbq? Probably not today, but why take the chance? Even the most benevolent law enforcement efforts are prone to errors - remember the US government's No Fly List and all of the stories about two month old babies not being allowed on flights because their names matched suspected terrorists?
So what to do? Although I don't think we're quite at the point where it's time to run for the hills, being a little more concerned about our personal privacy can't really hurt. The next time you're considering signing up for that new points club, ask yourself if you're comfortable telling an unknown number of companies (and possibly governments) your personal information including income, age, gender, race, and religion. How much is your privacy worth?