Bloomberg is reporting that for the past year select Google advertisers have been able to track whether online advertisements have resulted in an offline purchase. This is due to a partnership between Mastercard and Google. Google paid millions of dollars for the data that Mastercard provides and there were also discussions surrounding sharing a portion of ad revenue. I imagine most readers aren’t aware of this data sharing agreement, it’s possible to opt out on Google’s end by doing the following, navigate to ‘personal info & privacy’ when logged into your account, then manage your activity, then activity controls and toggle off web & app activity. Privacy experts have been critical of Mastercard for not providing a way to opt out of their transactions being shared and it isn’t clear if Mastercard is the only one providing payment information as Google claim that the ‘store sales measurement’ had access to “approximately 70 percent” of U.S. credit and debit cards. Given that Mastercard doesn’t have close to 70% market share the logical conclusion would be that either American Express/Visa are also providing data or Google has convinced individual issuers to do provide data as well.
Hat tip to VFTW
Nothing new. When I like DocofCredit page on Facebook, I suddenly start seeing all types of consumer related ads whenever I’m doing searches online away from FB. Thus, I can ascertain that I’m being tracked without even buying anything. Yes, I use a private browser and an ad blocker but it still happens. The price and the cost for living in a freer society than most is that freedom really isn’t free.
The real problem here is that people don’t read. They just like to make sensationalist conclusions and spread FUD. Hmm, let’s narrow this down for people; from the article:
“No individual transaction or personal data is provided […] We do not provide insights that track, serve up ads to, or even measure ad effectiveness relating to, individual consumers.”
Credit card companies have “always” sold transaction details; it’s a part of their business model. Google, and many other companies, make use of these details in an attempt to bring more value to their own businesses; none of this is “secret”. Google does not have consumer-level tracking capabilities through these transaction details. But, if you don’t like these practices for some reason, the solution is simple: don’t use credit cards and don’t use Google. Those are the tradeoffs or the “costs”; businesses need to make money to provide their services. Why do people think that they are entitled to these services for free?
Disabling javascript and clearing cookies often is a good way to minimize this kind of tracking.
It seems like a really complex issue until you realize the truth… YOU are the product they are selling. John 3:16
Exactly.
I can see that this thread is going to end well /s
I always find disingenuous these threads about Google and privacy, I mean everyone seems to want to get the best apps for free in exchange of literally nothing… But nothing is ever really free.
Also I don’t see how this type of “tracking” could harm someone, but if it does you can always move to an alternative privacy oriented service, many will be paid, others will be “free” but remember that in the end you should always remember, again, that nothing is really free.
It’s the hidden agenda/intentions that rightly scare people. They’d be happy for us to forget how much permission we’ve given to them for ‘free’ products.
I for one like the reminders of the scary things all our personal data can do once in the hands of these tech companies.
I agree with that. It’s as simple as altering their search results for political reasons which we all know FB and google have both done and probably still do.
They only do this in the runup to elections, though. Any other manipulations are only experimental, to perfect their techniques. Rest easy; it’s for your own good, after all!
I pay $33 per year. NSA can still read my emails because they go through an overseas provider and they assume it’s not a US person.
But, I like attorney client privilege and wouldn’t put anything in an email I wouldnt want read by the World
could at least give us 5% cashback….
You get the best search engine, best maps app, best web email, best browser and more, all for free, and we know that nothing is really free in life so…
Then maybe they shouldn’t call it free. Maybe it’s just “at the low low cost of all your privacy.”
It’s not really defensible.
If you are allowing google to scan your email for ads–or yahoo, etc, you are likely losing protection in emails that may otherwise be subject to attorney client privilege.
I know federal judges and attorneys who differ on this. (Smith v Maryland 1979). So it can be very important what you say in an email and to whom
Or a branded tin foil hat!
Slightly off topic, but once I bought something from Walmart.com and used a cc card on that account. Now, when use the same card IN-STORE, I get an email from them “How did you like your purchase of xxx”.
All this shit is getting tracked now.
I’ve found that to be a useful feature, actually. It’s not rocket science when Walmart is doing it themselves. At a basic level, they hash and salt your credit card number when you add it to your Walmart.com account, and then do the same in store. Easy to match. Target and Publix don’t use loyalty cards, but have tracked consumer purchases by tying purchases from the same card together in their customer databases.
Remember that time when Target got in trouble for sending baby coupons to a young woman (living with parents) who bought like EPT tests and hadn’t yet told her parents. And that was ~5 years ago.
What’s a “cc card?” Is it a “credit credit card?” 🙂
You can use it at the ATM machine. 😉
Article claims that there are “two billion Mastercard holders?” I find that very, very hard to believe.
There are a lot of Citi AA Plats out there 😉
But don’t those Mastercard Moments ads make you feel special?
The Slate version of this story has a more accurate-sounding interpretation of that number: “data from the two billion payment cards it has in circulation”.
I’m sure many people who have at least one Mastercard actually have several Mastercards. I’d guess maybe half a billion unique people worldwide?
Ehh, unlike other companies Google actually provides amazing free service — search, Gmail, maps. While they take all my data, it at least feels like they compensate me. Unlikely the credit agencies which just f*** you over