Another Tesco thread - big brother is watching!

[NOG]

Come on guys, we are not there yet nor do I think we ever will. Civil liberties, Asda cannot check my C/card legally for regular purchasing, it is against the law. I never ever give consent for my details to be used for marketing purposes, and would happily prosecute anyone who chose to.

Which Law.....
Computer misuse Act....na don't cover it,
DPA....could be, but then you don't know what DATA they have registered for.

They have an obligation to HMRC to record all sales for VAT purposes. Look at the bottom of your receipt and you have a Txn number. Not always marked someitmes it is just a number. This is the unique serial number of your sale. From this they can work out what items have VAT on them and the Rate. So when they come to do the return they can pay or reclaim the right amout of VAT.

If you have a unique number which records all the details you match run a script to pull all the sales with a pituclar CC number.....

Tar Tar everythign you have purchased, for the last 7 years will be there.

You could try to prosecute them, and I would love to be in the public gallery to watch, but i would recommend taking bus fair with you cos they would be driving your car home.

[Kristen]

"everythign you have purchased, for the last 7 years will be there"

If you use a Loyalty Card I am sure than can, and do, attribute each of your visits to you.

However, if you do NOT use a loyalty card they can NOT, legally, use your credit card number to aggregate your visits to identify your personal purchases / shopping habits.

And if they could I'm sure they wouldn't bother with loyalty cards and all the � XXX that they give away in vouchers to encourage you to use them

If you feel that they may be doing so, regardless of the law, then just pay cash. There's a cash machine right there in the store - provided you don't think they are recording the serial numbers of the notes drawn against your bank card and checking them in the till and collating that with the ATM records ...

[Mikey]

Now it would all depend on the circumstances of the argument, and you cut and pasted my text out of context. I said I would happily prosecute anyone that used my details for marketing purposes without my consent.

Thats a whole different ball game, plus how would I know if they were keeping past purchases on record, I guess I could ask for my file, which I think by law they have to give me, aslong as I pay for the priveledge. This should show me what information they have recorded and used relating to my details. Asda would be unlikely to have one as they do not store my name address abc background etc, whereas Tescos file I imagine is vast.

Storing any information based on credit card payments is a highly risky business, an American company TJX, TK maxx I think, were prosecuted for having this information hacked by the relevant banks that had to reissue cards, aswell as the individual compensation claims which still continue. This problem has eased here with the introduction of CVV info and chip and pin, which they don't take anyway, and is illegal to store. I think this is a case of what is possible and what a company is prepared to risk, Asda recently asked for postcodes for marketing purposes, when I was there shopping, needless to say I refused. I used to buy into the Tescos balony, I am more aware these days of why, and opt out.

[Kristen]

"This problem has eased here with the introduction of CVV info and chip and pin, which they don't take anyway, and is illegal to store"

Still sometimes gets stored though. e.g. you buy online, but the shop you are buying from doesn't debit your card there & then, their off-line order fulfilment system debits your card, and that needs the CV2 to do that, so the web site has to store it and pass it to the back office ... good news is that way you should not have your card debited if they don't have the goods in stock, 'coz the card is not debited until they are REALLY ready to despatch. Bad news is that web site may, or may not, remove your card details from the database once its transferred to the off-line system. (And either way I doubt that the C.Card companies allows / condones this, but the reality is that it takes time for all systems to be brought up to date)

Anyway, I digress, the newer "3D Secure" is better still [than CV2]. You give all your card details, then you get asked for some specific characters from a password you have set up. It is the credit card company asking for that, not the shop / credit card merchant folk, so there is one more player in the loop, and thus its harder for someone to use your card - the secret word is not stored on the shop's computer, because they never processed that data, so no chance for a hacker to get it - unless they hack the bank Ha! Ha!

Its a sensible level of security, IMHO, and worthwhile setting up a password when you are next asked to do so [when you shop on a site using 3D-Secure, if you have not yet done so - for all I know it is compulsory already, I've been using it on my cards for a year or so]. It goes under the name "verified by Visa" and a similar strapline for Mastercard that I have forgotten

[HeyWayne]

One day we'll all have our retinas scanned as we enter and leave a shop/business/pub etc ala Minority Report, there will be whole cities of computers monitoring our every move, we'll be tracked via tiny probes implanted in our ears and shops will cease to exist as every purchase will be a virtual transaction and the items will be despatched to us via flying trucks.

Who cares? The world's gonna end in 2012 anyway.

Chill out, put on some flip flops and enjoy the ride.

[Mikey]

Who cares? The world's gonna end in 2012 anyway.

Chill out, put on some flip flops and enjoy the ride.

Ah blue, did I miss the news flash whats happening in 2012?

[di]

Ah blue, did I miss the news flash whats happening in 2012?

I remember being convinced it was gonna be 2000!man upstairs(or whereever yours may be!)must've given us an extra 12yrs for good(or maybe bad?)behaviour!

[HeyWayne]

Survive 2012: Ancient Mayan Doomsday, Pole Shifts and Evolution

[Mikey]

I see its one of those arbitary figures, send to put the fear of G*d into us, do you think he gets scared then, cos he always has lots to give away??

[Mikey]

Survive 2012: Ancient Mayan Doomsday, Pole Shifts and Evolution

I thought the Mayans had already bitten the dust, or did I miss this too?

[HeyWayne]

I thought the Mayans had already bitten the dust, or did I miss this too?

They wore flip flops too!

[di]

Survive 2012: Ancient Mayan Doomsday, Pole Shifts and Evolution

so that'd be according to Mayan calendar&relating to the Mayan world!
Will you be planting much overwintering stuff in 2011?!

[Starchild]

The astronomer Philip Plait has stated very clearly that the Mayan calendar does not end in 2012 at all, that it is like the odometer on your car, as each section of the odometer reaches 9 and then clicks over to 0, the next number to it starts a new cycle, so that when all the numbers again reach 0 all the way across the odometer - the last number will change from 1 to 2 and the new cycle starts all over again.

I'm still waiting for Ragnarok personally.

[di]

Well there you go!!

[SarzWix]

I've always been convinced that it's 2028 for the 'end of the world'. Something to do with the odd religion I was brought up in (don't ask ), & some asteroid/meteor thing which is supposed to hit/just miss us in 2028. Time will tell, just hope I've achieved my dream of 5+ acre smallholding by then