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  • #1

    Can't Hide From Big Brother

    Like most ice cream/frozen yogurt shops, we have a loyalty card where 10 purchases gets you a free yogurt. Starting next month, we are getting rid of these cards and replacing them with a smart phone app. Since so many customers forget to bring their cards with them, or waste a lot of time rummaging around their bags/wallets at the counter looking for them, this seems like a better way to keep track of loyalty points.

    Most people are excited about the new app, except for some older folks. Like this lady who came in today:

    Older Lady: Well, can you still get loyalty points if you don't use the app?

    Me: Don't worry, we have other ways for you to keep track of them if you don't have a smart phone.

    Older Lady (annoyed): Oh, I have an iPhone, I just don't want anyone gathering information on me. That's what they do, you know. They use those things to collect data on everyone. I'm not going to allow it.

    She then left in a huff, leaving the air thick with moral outrage. As I stood and watched her go, I couldn't help but think about how futile her protest was. Privacy has become a casualty of the Information Age; if she doesn't want corporations collecting her information, she has to give up her iPhone, credit cards, club cards, and internet. Somehow, I just don't see that happening.
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  • #2
    It's far too late! If you've ever handled a penny, the government has got your DNA on file!
    - They say nothing good happens at 2AM, they're right, I happen at 2AM.

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    • #3
      Quoth Argabarga View Post
      It's far too late! If you've ever handled a penny, the government has got your DNA on file!
      actually mine is on file, damn military service......fingerprints with the feds and local(again military, and local was for a bartender's license)
      Honestly.... the image of that in my head made me go "AWESOME!"..... and then I remembered I am terribly strange.-Red dazes

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      • #4
        Quoth BlaqueKatt View Post
        actually mine is on file, damn military service......fingerprints with the feds and local(again military, and local was for a bartender's license)
        Yeah, same with the Navy. Both DNA and fingerprints.


        although i do understand some of her fears. for example, if i use an app that asks for my location and i know it doesn't really need it to function then nope *denied!*

        however i also accept that data mining is also sometimes a requirement for special coupons etc. it's voluntary so... i'm always free to say "no". it just means i won't be allowed to have the coupon.

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        • #5
          I don't have a smart phone.

          Also, I now want frozen yogurt. Thank you.
          My Writing Blog -Updated 05/06/2013
          It's so I can get ideas out of my head, I decided to put it in a blog in case people are bored or are curious as to the (many) things in progress.

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          • #6
            I don't have a smart phone, either. However, I wouldn't complain about it to someone who has no decision-making power.

            But I guess that's why this board was created...

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            • #7
              Quoth AmbrosiaWriter View Post
              I don't have a smart phone.

              Also, I now want frozen yogurt. Thank you.
              well my phone is... only partially smart. it's a tracfone that i can put facebook on. tho i do have an ipod touch

              but now you got me wondering.... if the new frozen yogurt place is open here yet...

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              • #8
                I'd be all over an app like that. But maybe that's because I adore this one app that lets you organize all your loyalty cards so you don't have to carry them around.

                And now I want fro-yo...but I have yet to find anything like that in China.

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                • #9
                  hmm, that may depend on what part of China you're in. The only place I've been to there is HK, which does have it.

                  I'm not sure if that site links to places outside of HK though.

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                  • #10
                    Quoth malmalthekiller View Post
                    I don't have a smart phone, either. However, I wouldn't complain about it to someone who has no decision-making power.

                    But I guess that's why this board was created...
                    Neither would I, especially since Misty specifically said, "Oh, we have other ways for you to keep track of your points!" So I would be all good to go.

                    I still don't have a smart phone.
                    My Writing Blog -Updated 05/06/2013
                    It's so I can get ideas out of my head, I decided to put it in a blog in case people are bored or are curious as to the (many) things in progress.

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                    • #11
                      I had a customer the other day pull up her store loyalty card on her phone. I seriously didn't even know you could do that, and now I want that app too. We also have a system where you can punch an ID number (I use my phone number and birthday) into the card reader and bring up your card that way.
                      I did have one guy, after I asked if he had a store card, explain how he didn't want one because he didn't want "them" to know his shopping habits. To be fair, my store does do targeted advertisements based on what you buy with your card, but I fail to see the harm in some businessman somewhere knowing what brand of beef jerky you eat.
                      It doesn't matter if you win or lose, as long as you look really cool doing it! -- Julio Scoundrel, Order of the Stick

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                      • #12
                        I too do not have a smart phone. However, as my dumb phone is dying a slow death, this situation will change, almost certainly within the week.

                        Towards that end I've been doing a little shopping and recon, and today while in my cell phone company's store, I noticed a poster on the wall advertising "Google Wallet." I asked the rep what Google Wallet is, and he told me that it's basically an app you can get that allows you to link your bank account, credit cards, etc., to your phone, and at any place that accepts Google Wallet, you can simply use your phone to pay (though I can't remember whether or not he said if the Wallet would include loyalty cards, though I imagine it woud). Which I think is cool, but I pointed out to him that I have not really seen many places with that. He said, "Not yet....but you will." And I can see how that could be the next big thing.

                        Still, as I told him, I like the idea of having a wallet, and honestly, if you lose your phone, you're kind of fucked. He disagreed, pointing out that you still need a password, and if that you enter the wrong password five times, the whole things shuts down. I pointed out that that could make for a reeeeallly bad night if you're really drunk. We both laughed.

                        But as I was typing this, I thought of another potential problem with Google Wallet. As it stands right now, if I lose my wallet or my phone, I'm going to be a bit fucked and a bit inconvenienced. But if they were all one thing and I lost them, I would be totally and completely fucked, and hugely inconvenienced. And as someone who once got so drunk that I lost my eyeglasses, I think it is probably prudent for me to keep my wallet and my phone separate....don't ya think?

                        "The Customer Is Always Right...But The Bartender Decides Who Is                         Still A Customer."

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                        • #13
                          Quoth BlaqueKatt View Post
                          actually mine is on file, damn military service......fingerprints with the feds and local(again military, and local was for a bartender's license)
                          Does it count if I'm on file with another country's government? I was on the KGB kill list if the U.S.S.R. ever invaded the U.S.A
                          The Rich keep getting richer because they keep doing what it was that made them rich. Ditto the Poor.
                          "Hy kan tell dey is schmot qvestions, dey is makink my head hurt."
                          Hoc spatio locantur.

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                          • #14
                            I don't know if my DNA is on file with the government, but my fingerprints certainly are (yes, I've been arrested), and almost certainly my name is for other reasons (college activism and protests). Yeah, I've got a file, and probably they have my DNA from something for some reason.

                            Just means I have to be that much more devious when I finally launch my plan to overthrow the government. (Wait, did I just type that out? Crap!)

                            "The Customer Is Always Right...But The Bartender Decides Who Is                             Still A Customer."

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                            • #15
                              Quoth Jester View Post
                              I don't know if my DNA is on file with the government, but my fingerprints certainly are
                              I'm actually a bit disappointed that I still can't just use my fingerprints to buy things.

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