The Invasive Technology & Retail Powers Act 2013

[ahinton]

Am I imagining it, or has some sort of invasive technology been employed to remove my post of yesterday, and that of at least one other member?

I have no idea but, if indeed it/they have, I must confess that I did not see them prior to said removal; usually, though, when posts get removed here, FF writes that this has happened so, as she's yet to do so on this occasion, such a question's presumably best addressed to her. Can you repost yours?

[amateur51]

Putting NSA activity into perspective ...

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/13/nsa-internet-traffic-surveillance?INTCMP=SRCH

:yikes: oh dear!

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Do you have our points card?

Would you like our points card?

They're really nervous about asking me this on at our (3) local Boots shops, fearing my tirade about the monopoly Boots now has on high street chemists.

[amateur51]

i enjoy inviting people behind me in the check-out queue to have my 'loyalty' points, as I don't have a card. The profile distortion that my weekly 'data' must afford to Messrs Sainsbury's bean-counters cheers me up no end

[ahinton]

If one does not want a loyalty card or indeed a store credit card, the word "no" is not so hard to pronounce and, if asked politely, one can even add the words "thank you". The only store cards that I have are Waitrose / John Lewis and Marks & Spencer which I never use anyway. Anyway, as a long-standing listener to ISIHAC, I know what "points" mean...

But as far as information collection goes, it's not all about recent technology; someone sends you a cheque and they send you their bank details, for example.

[Padraig]

I have no idea but, if indeed it/they have, I must confess that I did not see them prior to said removal; usually, though, when posts get removed here, FF writes that this has happened so, as she's yet to do so on this occasion, such a question's presumably best addressed to her. Can you repost yours?

Thank you, ah, for your reply. Normally I would assume that I had forgotten to press 'Post' in such circumstances, but as it was just a single link, I remember checking that it had come up correctly in the thread. Furthermore, I remember reading the post immediately preceding mine, by another member, which is now also missing.

Yes, I could repost it. But, I would rather find out, if I can, why it disappeared in the first place. Would you risk retelling a joke that fell flat? And yes, it was supposed to be a joke, in response to what I took to be a spoof thread.

[Richard Tarleton]

Our Tesco loyalty points for shopping and petrol, converted into air miles, have resulted in massive savings on foreign holidays over many years - free flights, car hire and hotel. I really don't mind letting them having information on our preferences in exchange for that - it doesn't alter our shopping behaviour.

[ahinton]

Our Tesco loyalty points for shopping and petrol, converted into air miles, have resulted in massive savings on foreign holidays over many years - free flights, car hire and hotel. I really don't mind letting them having information on our preferences in exchange for that - it doesn't alter our shopping behaviour.

Fair comment, although the information that you "let" them have does not of itself presume the need for your participation in a loyalty points scheme, since it is in any case collected from you and all other customers every time they purchase anything, as I have mentioned previously.

[An_Inspector_Calls]

Not if they pay cash.

[ahinton]

Not if they pay cash.

Really? So would you be happy to make purchases from Tesco (or anywhere else, for that matter) and not expect the retailer to generate an itemised receipt? Sure, they won't have your bank or credit card details if you pay by cash, but they'll have details of what you purchased and even that information, despite not being attached to an identifiable purchaser, will be recorded so that the purchase statistics for not only the goods sold but the proportion of customers who pay by cash and all the rest will go into the mix. Not only that, you might well be photographed and recorded when selecting your goods and when paying for them at the checkout. But, more importantly, who pays by cash at Tesco (or anywhere else much) these days? - and where do they obtain their cash? The answer to the former question is "vanishingly few" and that to the latter "more often than not at ATMs where their cash withdrawal details are all recorded and they'll doubtless also have been recorded on CCTV making the withdrawals".

[An_Inspector_Calls]

That's why I burn all itemised receipts so they can't be traced, and I always wear a Balaclava when I go out.

[Serial_Apologist]

That's why I burn all itemised receipts so they can't be traced, and I always wear a Balaclava when I go out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLNrLI3OBwg

[french frank]

Furthermore, I remember reading the post immediately preceding mine, by another member, which is now also missing.

Yes, I could repost it. But, I would rather find out, if I can, why it disappeared in the first place. Would you risk retelling a joke that fell flat? And yes, it was supposed to be a joke, in response to what I took to be a spoof thread.

Have just read this thread for the first time: I checked the Moderation Log and nothing has been deleted from this thread at all; and nothing from anywhere (other than by the posters themselves) in recent days. No interfering technology involved, though possibly something faulty in the software which isn't usual.

[ahinton]

That's why I burn all itemised receipts so they can't be traced

You might well do that, but it wasn't you, the purchaser, to whom I was referring; the retailers wouldn't necessarily do the same with their copies, which is what I was writing about.

and I always wear a Balaclava when I go out.

I wonder how much CCTV footage of that there is?

[Padraig]

Have just read this thread for the first time: I checked the Moderation Log and nothing has been deleted from this thread at all; .

Well, that beats Banagher, ff!

What can I say? I know what I did.

Somebody else knows what they did too. Speak up man.