New way for Google to get conversion data on products: Google Trusted store purchase protection program.
I just bought something online, went straight to the merchant website, did not go through Google, as the product was recommended by a colleague. As you can see from the screenshot, Google offers me free purchasing protection. Great, the catch is, my email address will be shared with Google, and I bet a lot more information as well.
I paid with Paypal, but this is a nifty way for Google to get more data on my purchasing behavior.
Damn you Google for being this smart!
And here is how the program works:
https://support.google.com/trustedstores/answer/1669761?p=program&rd=1
From the page (emphasis mine):
“After completing a purchase with a Google Certified Shop, most users will be offered the chance to opt in to free purchase protection from Google for that order. At this time, purchase protection is offered on a per-order basis, and only at the time of purchase. If you opt in, then the merchant will share your order information and email address with us. We’ll send you an email with the details of your order, the merchant’s contact details, and a link to contact Google in the event of any issues.”
Free Google Purchase Protection, You Pay With Your Data
Remember; if it’s free, you’re the product being sold… aka your data!
WARNING. Rant mode engaged:
I wish I was surprised, but as soon as this option came up on a purchase, I googled this being related to data collection and their own frigging search engine took me here. No one would need this anyway as now pretty much all banks have automatic protection and internal processes designed to detect fraud. Not only do they contact you but they stop the payment automatically! However, it would be nice if the police actually tried to do something with the data collected. I once had my card stolen and someone booked a bloody hotel room with it… The police could have literally just got in touch with the hotel and then shown up when the “guest” checked-in. It would be a no brainer easy conviction but nope, they just sat there with the proverbial finger where the sun doesn’t shine. Sigh.
If you can’t tell already, I’m seriously fed with google. Why gmail needs access to my calendar, camera, contacts, microphone, telephone, body sensors and sms on my phone when its had decent functionality on my pc without all that crap since gmail’s inception I find insulting and ridiculously intrusive: Freaking Body sensors???? Are you kidding me google? Are you sure you don’t want my medical records or access to my childhood diary? I can only assume it is yet another way to pin you down online and sell you more crap, or sell more of YOUR crap to other advertisers, who in-turn want to sell you more crap… Oh joy! If you take away those permissions in your settings, android pesters you every 5-10 seconds whilst using gmail, and yes you can still send attachments etc, this stuff has absolutely no functionality. The gmail app to me is pretty much malware as far as I’m concerned and I seriously want to move elsewhere but it seems nearly everyone want’s loads of details. Anyone have any recommendations?
Google is getting more and more aggressive with it’s data collection every year, anyone remember the good old days before they became complete corporate sellouts? You know when it was about a good service and not being a-holes? Makes me sick how much money they’ve exploited from our details to earn on the back of this blatantly abandoned philosophy. Disgusting! So no, I don’t want your facebook clone, your youtube “improvements”, your advertising suggestions and your purposely over-complicated opt-out bullcrap either… Anyone tried opting out? You need to remain logged in and keep cookies for them to maintain your opt-out status, and then there are two or three sites (and probably more) to opt out of as well who also require cookies. So if like me you clear cookies automatically daily you have to compromise this just to opt out of bloody ads! Surely it should be like data protection in the UK, where you have an opt-in if your happy to share your details, but that would be ethical so I won’t hold my breath.
With windows 10 being microsofts’ rather late to the party catch up technique I think linux is going to become increasingly popular and people using privacy browsers is going to go mental over the next decade, it’s already on the increase. At this rate people will be moving over to blackberrys if they haven’t already jumped on the advertising gravy train, shock horror! And of course if they notice this ever growing privacy conscious niche and get manage to get their acts together. I’m hoping for too much here aren’t I!
Quite frankly this feels like the the death throws of desperate advertisers trying to exist online as people become more and more immune to their barrage of “buy, buy, buy”. Give up already, it’s the millennium and you’re becoming ever-increasingly irrelevant, we will block your asses. Funnily enough, it makes me reminisce for the days when ads were actually funny or cleaver, some actually won wards for Christ sake. Now it’s all aimed at the lowest common denominator, and made as cheap as possible with overly loud interruptions and absolutely not one new idea coming from any of them. It’s pretty pathetic really.
I wonder if we could organise a class action lawsuit asking for commission from the unscrupulous selling of our data? The clandestine way they extract it isn’t exactly obvious to the day to day PC user and I imagine most people would be shocked if they heard half the crap google is pulling with their details.
So er yeah, [insert expletive] google!
Ok rant over, I think, lol. I’ll put my tin foil hat away now.
Ps, thanks for this article