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The ads, the tracking, the eavesdropping (lemmy.ml)
submitted 1 month ago by to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml
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I would love to know from the rest here - isn't a solution to the ad creep just... not buying things? Like going for second hand / refurbished, avoiding big brands for food and drink, and just not shopping online (ffs)? Or am I being naive? Enlighten me!

Of course working under the assumption that the government cannot (yet) admit to tracking us for more sinister purposes. That's a problem for another day.

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[โ€“] 4 points 1 month ago (3 children)

There is substantial tracking when shopping offline too. Retailers use cameras with facial recognition, sentiment analysis, and reportedly some are even beginning to use dynamic pricing.

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  • [โ€“] [S] 1 point 1 month ago (2 children)

    Yeah that latter part is dystopian AF, but do you mean food shopping here? That's tough to dodge I guess, and not everyone can afford the hipster microbrands, but I'm talking about other commodities.

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  • [โ€“] 1 point 1 month ago (1 child)

    Yes, dystopian. And yes, it includes food retailers too. (here for me is USA btw).

    For more reading, do a web search for terms like:

    • retail dynamic pricing
    • surveillance pricing
    • retail sentiment analysis
    • electronic price tags

    Here's a discussion about Kroger's market doing it. There are many others. A few US states are moving to ban the practice, and Maryland has passed a law banning it, though what I've read suggests that it bans the practice, not the in-store surveillance that enables it. Both parties controlling US politics want ubiquitous mass surveillance, and are happy to let surveillance capitalism work around constitutional protections.

    Long story short... they know who you are when you walk in, and they catalog and analyze your in-store behaviors, interactions, and reactions, and they increasingly understand and exploit your willingness to pay for a particular item.

    You could argue that it's worse than online shopping. It's more akin to shopping online with your webcam on and the online shop recording everything.

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