Targeted advertising surveillance should concern us all

When your local grocery chain gives you a loyalty card, do you think they're doing it in order to make you a loyal customer? Of course not. After all, every other supermarket offers loyalty cards too. So why are they willing to offer such eye-watering discounts if you use one? Because it allows them to track every single purchase you make and dump the information into a gigantic database. That's useful to them, and, more importantly, it's valuable data to sell to others. That's why they want it so badly.

Online, of course, similar things are happening. High-tech marketing firms are busily figuring out ways to merge data from lots of different sources to build a profile of you that would probably put your own mother to shame. Why? Because it's worth a lot of money. Advertisers are willing to pay huge amounts of money to be able to target the 1 percent of prospects who are actually likely to buy their wares, instead of simply blasting their message out to everyone. Target, for example, figured out the shopping habits of pregnant women and used that to create highly effective advertising campaigns aimed at expectant mothers. That's a lucrative market.

Combine that with Facebook likes, Google searches, phone records, pharmacy records, and every other digital trail that all of us leave behind us, and what can't you predict? We don't know yet, but there are sure plenty of people beavering away to find out.

Needless to say, spy agencies have exactly the same goals. They might not be interested in whether you're pregnant—though, then again, they might be—but they're keenly interested in trying to predict future actions based on past events. So when Risen and Wingfield report that Facebook's chief security officer decamped for a job with the NSA a couple of years ago, should we be surprised? Not a bit. They're both in the same business, after all.

We can all decide for ourselves whether we think the NSA should have access to all our phone records. But the surveillance state doesn't end there. Keep in mind that DARPA's first crack at this stuff in the wake of 9/11 was called Total Information Awareness, and its goal was precisely what the name implied: a wide-ranging database that included personal emails, social networks, credit card records, phone calls, medical records, shopping records, travel data, and anything else that the marriage of high tech and modern marketing made possible. TIA got killed after public outcry, but it never really went away. How could it? The merger of public and private spying is just too powerful to ignore.

We're all used to Facebook spying on us these days. (There's no need to mince words about what they do, is there?) So as scary as a surveillance state may be, it's not the worst thing that could happen. That's because the private sector spies on us too, and they do it so charmingly that not only don't we object, we practically beg them to do more. Instead of a military-industrial complex, we're rapidly moving toward a marriage so perfect that eHarmony could only dream of it: the surveillance-marketing complex.
http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2013/06/surveillance-marketing-complex-coming-soon-computer-near-you

Grocery loyalty card purchases surveilled by insurance companies to raise rates and deny claims:

Those grocery store “loyalty cards” that they push on you to enjoy discounts on groceries are actually a behavior surveillance technology that’s used to capture and profile your grocery purchasing patterns. This data is then sold off to insurance companies who use it to raise your rates by linking your grocery purchases with the risk of disease.

Buying a lot of ice cream? You’re more likely to be obese and diabetic.

Purchasing a lot of processed meats and homogenized milk? You’re more likely to develop cardiovascular disease.

Bringing home a lot of processed food with additives, chemical sweeteners and chemical preservatives? You’re far more likely to get cancer.

Health insurance companies are now using this data to develop these sorts of “risk profiles” of individual consumers. And it’s all enabled because people are so incredibly obedient that they actually fill out their real names and addresses on these grocery loyalty cards. Health insurance companies simply use credit reporting databases to link your grocery loyalty card account number to your health insurance account number, and from there, your insurance rates can be adjusted based on what you buy to eat.

Even worse, they can use this data to deny your health insurance claims. For example, if you get diagnosed with cancer, your health insurance company can look through your grocery purchasing history and show that you bought processed meat products containing cancer-causing sodium nitrite.

They can use this data to deny payment on your claims and push the blame on YOU for living a “cancer lifestyle.”
http://www.naturalnews.com/039329_grocery_store_loyalty_cards_health_insurance.html

Retailer sued for collecting customer zip codes:

Urban Outfitters Inc., is facing a class action in Washington federal court over allegations the clothing retailer collected customer zip codes in violation of District of Columbia consumer protection laws.

The complaint, filed June 21 in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, accused Urban Outfitters Inc. of asking for customer zip codes in a way that implied the information was required to complete a credit card transaction. The plaintiffs claimed Urban Outfitters, which also owns Anthropologie-brand stores, used the zip codes to track down customer addresses for marketing purposes.

The lawsuit is the latest against a retailer over zip code collection practices. In March, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled retailers could be sued under Massachusetts consumer privacy law for collecting zip codes during credit card transactions, allowing a class action to proceed in Massachusetts federal court against Michaels Stores Inc. Scott Perry of Perry Charnoff in Arlington, Va., the lead plaintiffs’ attorney in the D.C. case against Urban Outfitters, said rulings from other state courts in recent years were instructive on how courts were leaning, even though the previous cases involved state-specific consumer protection laws.

“It’s one thing for a store to put someone on a mailing list with their permission,” Perry said. “It’s quite another to ask for information that allows them to find this information out without being transparent about it.”

According to the complaint, customers at Urban Outfitters and Anthropologie were asked for their zip codes when they paid with a credit card. The plaintiffs pointed to recent news reports detailing how retailers can find a customer’s address if they have a name—which is on a credit card—and zip code.

Under the D.C. Code, the plaintiffs claimed, it’s illegal for a merchant to ask for a customer’s address or telephone number as a condition for processing a credit card transaction. The plaintiffs argue the law applies to their situation because a zip code is part of an address. http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2013/06/retailer-sued-for-collecting-customer-zip-codes-1.html#more

Mall counterterrorism files ID mostly minorities:

The following is a continuation of an investigation by NPR News and the Center for Investigative Reporting on private counterterrorism programs, like the one at the Mall of America.

Programs aimed at keeping a lookout for potential terrorists are not about profiling, government officials stress. But an analysis of suspicious activity reports of incidents at the Mall of America near Minneapolis, by NPR News Investigations and the Center for Investigative Reporting, suggests that the Mall of America may be questioning people based partly on their appearance.

From the more than 1,000 pages of suspicious activity reports examined, the documents suggest almost two-thirds of the "suspicious" people whom the Mall reported to local police were minorities. Compare that with the U.S. population, which is more than 70 percent white. And whites account for 85 percent of the population in Minnesota.

NPR and the Center for Investigative Reporting asked 29 law enforcement agencies across the country to provide suspicious activity reports from attractions such as amusement parks or baseball stadiums. Only officials in Minnesota sent us reports — more than 100 "suspicious" people that the Mall of America sent on to local police. Documents show that in almost half the cases, the reports were forwarded to state and federal law enforcement.

A Mall of America spokesman says they stop and question more than 1,000 people each year, so it's not clear whether the reports obtained by NPR and CIR are a representative sample. The mall's executives wouldn't tell us if the ethnic and racial breakdown of their visitors is different from the U.S. population.
http://www.npr.org/2011/09/08/140262005/mall-counterterrorism-files-id-mostly-minorities

Feds warrantlessly tracking Americans’ credit cards in real time:

Federal law enforcement agencies have been tracking Americans in real-time using credit cards, loyalty cards and travel reservations without getting a court order, a new document released under a government sunshine request shows.

The document, obtained by security researcher Christopher Soghoian, explains how so-called “Hotwatch” orders allow for real-time tracking of individuals in a criminal investigation via credit card companies, rental car agencies, calling cards, and even grocery store loyalty programs. The revelation sheds a little more light on the Justice Department’s increasing power and willingness to surveil Americans with little to no judicial or Congressional oversight.

For credit cards, agents can get real-time information on a person’s purchases by writing their own subpoena, followed up by a order from a judge that the surveillance not be disclosed. Agents can also go the traditional route — going to a judge, proving probable cause and getting a search warrant — which means the target will eventually be notified they were spied on.

The document suggests that the normal practice is to ask for all historical records on an account or individual from a credit card company, since getting stored records is generally legally easy. Then the agent sends a request for “Any and all records and information relating directly or indirectly to any and all ongoing and future transactions or events relating to any and all of the following person(s), entitities, account numbers, addresses and other matters…” That gets them a live feed of transaction data.
DOJ powerpoint presentation on Hotwatch surveillance orders of credit card transactions
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/12/realtime/

Analysis of data obtained by a media surveillance system used to analyze public concerns about vaccines:

The Vaccine Confidence Project, media reports (eg, online articles, blogs, government reports) were obtained using the HealthMap automated data collection system, adapted to monitor online reports about vaccines, vaccination programmes, and vaccine-preventable diseases. Any reports that did not meet the inclusion criteria—any reference to a human vaccine or vaccination campaign or program that was accessible online—were removed from analysis.

Reports were manually analyzed for content and categorized by concerns, vaccine, disease, location, and source of report, and overall positive or negative sentiment towards vaccines. They were then given a priority level depending on the seriousness of the reported event and time of event occurrence. We used descriptive statistics to analysis the data collected during a period of 1 year, after refinements to the search terms and processes had been made.

We analyzed data from 10 380 reports (from 144 countries) obtained between May 1, 2011, and April 30, 2012. 7171 (69%) contained positive or neutral content and 3209 (31%) contained negative content. Of the negative reports, 1977 (24%) were associated with impacts on vaccine programmes and disease outbreaks; 1726 (21%) with beliefs, awareness, and perceptions; 1371 (16%) with vaccine safety; and 1336 (16%) with vaccine delivery programs. We were able to disaggregate the data by country and vaccine type, and monitor evolution of events over time and location in specific regions where vaccine concerns were high.

Real-time monitoring and analysis of vaccine concerns over time and location could help immunization programs to tailor more effective and timely strategies to address specific public concerns.

Funding by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation:
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have been focused on reducing the population of poorer countries through the promotion of killer drugs such as Depo-Provera. The foundation is partnering with the British government to raise $4 billion to finance their birth control plan by 2020. This is under the guise of family planning. The foundation is also known to fund an NGO committed to children vaccination known as Gavi. This vaccine has been used on children in Malawi, India and Pakistan. In Malawi, these kids were vaccinated at gunpoint in 2011; Non-polio paralysis struck some of the kids that were vaccinated ( Posel, S. 2012).

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is committing 10 billion dollars over the next ten years to make it the most aggressive decade ever to roll out new vaccines to poor nations around the world. The commitment will also effectively create widespread fertility problems across vaccinated populations.

In 2010, Gates told an audience of more than 2,000 at a TED conference that if we could register every worldwide birth on a cell phone we could ensure vaccination and control population growth. "The world today has 6.8 billion people...That's headed up to about 9 billion. Now if we do a really great job on vaccines, healthcare, reproductive health services, we could lower that by perhaps 10 or 15 percent." 
Those opposing vaccination are now seeing the big picture. That it's not so much vaccines that are the primary problem, but part of the greater problem of body pollution. They are becoming more educated, informed and extremely knowledgeable--the vaccinators of course are hating this so they must introduce some type of surveillance system in a desperate attempt to assess risk levels of growing skepticism relating to vaccine programs including potential program disruptions and vaccine refusals.
So what will this surveillance system look like? You can bet on a very sophisticated internet based spy network that will listen for early signals of public distrust, reported side effects and questioning of vaccines within in the largest social media and health-based outlets to provide an in-depth risk analysis to help them intercept and engage the public early to pre-empt potential program disruptions.  http://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099%2813%2970108-7/abstract