jane@wombat.UUCP (Jane Beckman) (01/15/91)
Notice that not only can a store track your purchases, if they start logging your grocery tally, but they can also track your habits. "Ahah, Mr. Jones bought x groceries on Friday, and the Safeway across from where he works. He shops there on Wednesday and Friday, after work, and stops at the A&P at noon on alternate Mondays. He buys dog food at the A&P, but general groceries at the Safeway..." They can form a general picture of you and your habits by such tracking, enough that they can probably predict where you are at a given time, since most of us are creatures of habit. If they know that Mr. Jones goes to shops near his mother's house every weekend, they can reasonably surmise he visits Mom. Given such a profile, people can predict where you will be, at what times, and doing what. The implications of the misuse of such information. As a matter of fact, if someone tracked your gasoline credit card purchases, they would have another means of keeping tabs on your movements. Big Brother can watch you, everywhere. Jilara [jane@swdc.stratus.com]