Monday, October 21, 2013

A new use for loyalty cards

There was a Salmonella outbreak in the Northwest and investigators used loyalty cards of the patients who were made ill to track down the producer of the chicken.  A good outcome from government snooping (CDC), however it sounds like an unfortunate precedent when perhaps your Kroger or Giant Eagle card revealing unhealthy food purchases and snacks or soda can be linked to your electronic medical record, now required by the Unaffordable Care Act.  For many stores, selling the personal data that is generated by loyalty cards is more lucrative than the products they sell.  And you gave them that voluntarily.  So now the federal government can get in the act, too. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23842445

http://www.ccm.com.lb/SubPageCenterBody.aspx?pageid=211

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