Old man stuck in his ways vent

[Mark17]

Originally Posted by BioCRN

They use it to save themselves money on postage and time not sending you offers that aren't targeted, not to find some secret information to take your family down and enslave you.

And then they get hacked and all that info ends up in the hands of people who use it to exploit.

I have 3 rental homes. A year ago, within about 4 months of each other, two of them informed me the company they were using to service those mortgages had been hacked, and my data were exposed. When I applied for those mortgages, I had to submit much more than just my address, contact info, SSN, employer, but also my assets. In two ionstances, the companies I got my original mortgaghes with sold my loan to another mortgage company. In both cases, those new mortgaghe companies then farmed out the servicing of those mortgages to yet another party. Not to mention, my homestead mortgage. So, I figure at least 5 mortgage companies have very sensitive information on me, and at least twice, a vendor they did business with fumbled it into the hands of thieves.

I have a master's degree in software engineering. I worked for years in the data warehouse dept. at Express Scripts, where we had, at one time, over a billion prescription claims records, along with referential data on the members, prescribers, pharmacies, drugs prescribed, and so on. I know something about data security, and I can tell you, between contractors working for us who had access, and older claim data we archived off our platforms to be stored with an outside vendor, it is nearly impossible to keep data completely secure.

It isn't a boogy-man argument to say that the less personal and financial data we are forced to reveal, the better.

[BioCRN]

Originally Posted by Mark17

And then they get hacked and all that info ends up in the hands of people who use it to exploit.

I can personally say there was no safeguard to keep me from harvesting already-harvested data given the level of access I had.

Yes, I was a trusted employee, but I had direct access to client database(s) because we made the tools that mined that data. I could do anything and "cover" my tracks if needed. We've downloaded entire databases from clients (with permission) in order to locally sandbox huge rollouts. They trusted us to delete/destroy it afterwards. Though some back-end was universal, a chunk of it was custom to each client.

Anyone's desire to not be tracked, data harvested, etc...that's fine. It's very hard, but it's a very logical thing to want, from personal privacy to the point that your data is actually valuable (to a point) and if you want to monetize it rather than strangers that's legit.

I'm not saying not to worry about it or there's no risk, I'm just saying a lot of it is out there and it's businesses that badly want your data for themselves and to sell to others.

Besides that aspect, so much of this is being pushed by businesses so employees don't have to have cash registers coming up short, keeping cash on hand, having people who need to count/store/transport cash...etc...it's a business decision to streamline. This kind of stuff works hand-in-hand with kiosks replacing humans when ordering stuff at fast food places, etc etc...

[Mark17]

Originally Posted by BioCRN

I'm not saying not to worry about it or there's no risk, I'm just saying a lot of it is out there and it's businesses that badly want your data for themselves and to sell to others.

Besides that aspect, so much of this is being pushed by businesses so employees don't have to have cash registers coming up short, keeping cash on hand, having people who need to count/store/transport cash...etc...it's a business decision to streamline. This kind of stuff works hand-in-hand with kiosks replacing humans when ordering stuff at fast food places, etc etc...

We generally agree. I fully understand why companies and governments want to collect data on us. It benefits them. Power, manipulation, control. And as you additionally point out, the data don't need to be stolen - sometimes they're simply sold to other entities who are buying so as to be able to exert their influence upon us in some way.

But is what's good for companies and governments, good or bad, generally, for us?

I use nextdoor to keep current with the goings on in my neighborhood. Lost pets, finding a local plumber or excavator, where to see fireworks on certain holidays... For the past year or so, I get a pop-up asking for my birthday including year. I can see how my approximate age might help them target ads at me, but why do they want my birthday?

Last month I made an appointment for my annual physical. When I arrived at the receptionist desk, I told her my name and appointment time. She asked just one identifying question: May I have your birthday.

[DHogan]

Over the past few months, when I go into a small convenience store or McDonalds or small dinner. I'll go to pay for what I bought or ordered for a meal. The person at the register will ask do I want my change back ? Like what the hell ? Umm ya, I do. Is this the new normal ?

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by DHogan

Over the past few months, when I go into a small convenience store or McDonalds or small dinner. I'll go to pay for what I bought or ordered for a meal. The person at the register will ask do I want my change back ? Like what the hell ? Umm ya, I do. Is this the new normal ?

Unfortunately it is a huge part of our(USA) tip culture. I have even been asked several times at non restaurant stores when paying with a CC if I want to add a tip with the touch screen display offering a few suggested amounts.

[JustinD]

Originally Posted by bnorth

Unfortunately it is a huge part of our(USA) tip culture. I have even been asked several times at non restaurant stores when paying with a CC if I want to add a tip with the touch screen display offering a few suggested amounts.

The growth in tip asks really has less to do with tip culture than sneaky profiteering. It came from the point of sale services and the addition of the iPad payment methods. Square and the other services purposefully added the tip option to all sales to get additional percentage revenue. They take a little bite out of every transaction as a processing fee and realized if they add tipping to each one they increased that take. It’s just another nibble just like PayPal fees.

I believe depending on the service contract stores have no option to remove the tip ask. Never feel guilty in a non-service transaction to say no is my belief.

[ALBB]

yea, this tipping in situations where it was never done before is..annoying !

How about the other popular annoyance - having to pay for a " bag ",

It been a thing for years in grocery stores..but now paying for a bag at - the deli, the bakery, etc...