You"re an expecting mother and wish to purchase a pregnancy test. You head to your local grocer purchase the test, and save twenty cents on you purchase because of your frequent buyers card, on the end of your receipt there is a message that reads "For an Abortion call 555-1234." Well, right now there is a very heated argument between consumers and big chain grocery stores on wither or not privacy is being invaded with the tracking of purchases made and the usefulness of the information. The argument is over a simple piece of plastic like credit card that is swiped in order to give you a discount of your purchases. But activists are saying that this information is being sold to other company's, and that our purchases shouldn't be tracked in order to only have this data come back to haunt us later on in life. I plan on discussing the view of the activists on items like privacy, pricing, and how this all can be used in a negative way.
It all starts out with a piece of paper that you must fill out with your name, address and phone number. Now that you have surrendered your personal information you can get a discount on your purchases. You are now registered into their computer system. They can now track your every purchase. From beer to toilet paper they have information on you that you don't even know about. They use this information to track your spending habits, your needs, what isles you spend more time in, and how frequently you purchase a certain product. With all this information on you they can tell a lot about your personal life. Pretty soon they are sending you birthday cards in the mail. With their vast information about you and what you buying habits are they can sell you name to other companies that in turn send you junk mail regarding you latest purchase of the new Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream, with discounts on other related products and services. When mergers occur, new people now have access to your information, same with parent companies of larger corporations.
