They are watching you shop

A story on Yahoo news woke much of the world up to the amount of surveillance that is in our communities, especially when it comes to shopping. The new article discussed a US military concern with Canadian coins that had a red dot of nano technology in the centre.  The military took the threat seriously. 

The threat was eliminated when spokespeople from the Canadian Mint  assured the USA that they did indeed issue coins with a red poppy in the centre, and there was no surveillance nano technology buried beneath the red metal.

Once people finished laughing at the apparent mix up, they did realize that nano surveillance technology is everywhere – not just in the black strip on your credit card.

This is not the first time surveillance has made the news. In fact, surveillance increasingly intrudes into our private lives. 

New technology, "invisible" , technology gathers and processes information. The levels of surveillance will grow exponentially over the next 10 years.  This information is meant to improve everything from shopping to safety. 

Unfortunately, it will result in an increasing number of people finding themselves discriminated against and excluded from society. This, according to a report by the Information Commissioner, Richard Thomas which claims that we have only seen the tip of the iceberg. New technology will include microchip implants to identify and track individuals, facial recognition cameras fitted into lampposts, and surveillance aircraft, predict the report’s authors.

Mr Thomas, said: "Two years ago I warned that we were in danger of sleepwalking into a surveillance society. Today I fear that we are in fact waking up to a surveillance society that is already all around us.

"As ever more information is collected, shared and used, it intrudes into our private space and leads to decisions which directly influence people’s lives.

"Mistakes can also easily be made with serious consequences – false matches and other cases of mistaken identity, inaccurate facts or inferences, suspicions taken as reality, and breaches of security.

"I am keen to start a debate about where the lines should be drawn. What is acceptable and what is not?"

This includes tracking travel and use of public services, buying habits, financial transactions, the monitoring of telephone calls, e-mail and internet use in the workplace.

What will this information do? While the government reports list pages and pages of benefits, many people fear that it will result in people being prejudiced.  There is a possibility that databases will become so advanced that they can track every purchase from your choices at the grocery store to the number of shoes you purchase in a year.

The scenario works like this. Shoppers will be scanned when they enter stores. The information will be matched with loyalty card data.  This will affect how the customer is treated, with big spenders given preferential treatment over others. But, if the information can be used to improve a customer’s shopping experience, can it also be used to ban customers from a store.

The next level can use this information to determine whether you qualify for a job, or even where you live.  A person who spends more than a certain percentage of their income on luxuries may find it impossible to qualify for an affordable loan. 

The industry has warned people for a decade that their information is being collected, processed, and even sold.  Have you ever wondered why wealthy people are not hit by the number of telemarketers as the middle upper class receives.  The companies want to improve their profit margin. What better way to do this than to target people who spend to much.  Imagine the profit potential if a store could target impulse buyers.

David Murakami Wood, a co-author of the report said: "The level of surveillance in this country should shock people – it is infiltrating everything we do. The question is whether we want that or not. Most people do not understand how the information is used – for example details obtained from supermarket loyalty cards and credit cards are bought and sold to other companies to provide complex profiles of individual customers.” (quote www.commondreams.org)

While some worry that the information will be used to make sure the heir to the biggest hotel chain can have everything they want, when they want, and the rest of us will do without, there are some people who see a positive side to the whole ‘big brother’ attitude.

People who drain society will be ‘watched.’  Their spending problems will be watched and controlled. 

Kleptomaniacs can be kept out of stores, reducing the shop lifting burden that is passed onto the paying customers.  Criminals can be captured quicker. Crime should be easier to solve.  We can track our children. 

Most people do not want to lose control over their lives so that stores can track our spending and try and sell us more.  But, if it can keep people safe, then the price might not be too high.