C'punks,

On Fri, 15 Apr 1994 killbarny@aol.com wrote:

...

Safeway food stores has this neat little glitch in their shopping database that is just ripe for abuse and litigation. When you pay by check, your information is recorded and stored in their computers, so the next time you go in there and try to get out your ID [for your check], they say "Don't bother, we have that information."

And Sandy Sandfort responded:

And what, pray tell, would be your cause of action? Why don't you just pay cash if you are so bothered?

The thing is- yes of course, one coulpd pay cash to avoid Safeway- and in fact, perhaps that is one must do. However, it seems to me that we a re touching on alarger issue here- and that is the fact that these practices amount to societal surveillance techniques which are being employed with greater and greater frequency. One has to get a bit nervous, it would seem- when it becomes easier and easier for the powers that be to track your every move- including the videos you have rented, the people you have spoken with or correspaonded with, the books and magazines you have read, etc. This may not be of concern to the average citizen who is content with going to work and going home and watching TV every night- but for those who don't buy into or are actively hostile towards the dominant hegemonic ideology of this country- surveillance may in fact become a real concern. Computers make such surviellance, as we have seen, more and more feasible on a grander scale- both in terms of the amount of information it is possible to obtian about a person, and in terms of the amount of people which can easily be watched. I am not suggesting a grand conspiricy, although I think that computer technology could potentially inadvertently give great power to a centralized government. I suppose that is why it is so important not to merely say "Hey- pay cash"- but rather to think about the further implications of surveillance via computer in our society. Ciao for now, Julie __________________________________________________________________________ Julie M. Albright Ph.D Student Department of Sociology University of Southern California albright@usc.edu

As insidious as it seems, there are a couple of advantages to this commercial invasion of privacy. firstly it allows you to go through the checkout counter a bit faster. Secondly, it allows Safeway to compile statistical information about what products you're interested in, and can sell this information to advertisers, which would either bombard you with junk mail, or unexpected/unwanted phonecalls, but may also throw in some cupons to sweaten the deal. (Of course the advantages are not quite all the shoppers...) Now this is fairly harmless, however, should something like DT2 require Safeway to provide its database to the Feds, they will hold practically all the information they could dream of having about an individual/family. They can already get all the credit info, at the records of your bank account, your credit card purchases, phone calls, food purchases, your trash (sort of like dumpster diving, only more sinister), what more could they possibly need to know you without your consent? It really is time to get anon digital cash... :-I