Bloomberg has revealed that Google has signed a secret deal with Mastercard that allows it to track what users buy offline

Has it been confirmed now? Last time I checked it was just a rumour.

Source?

Surprise, surprise!

Anyone still believe they're not a monopoly?

Wow, this is dark really...

@AlexDeLarge If it's in the TOS/Privacy Policy they can do a ton.

@kunaldawn https://bloomberg.com/news/...

MasterCard being like: "But he said Mastercard shares transaction trends with merchants and their service providers to help them measure "the effectiveness of their advertising campaigns.”"

But a few lines later:

""We do not provide insights that track, serve up ads to, or even measure ad effectiveness [...]"

🚩 Well shit.

What if I buy a prepaid credit card with my regular credit card?

.

This made me and my wife decide to change bank. Thanks again for letting is know.

@norman70688 While that is true, some (most?) only offer MasterCard or Visa (at least around here).

@norman70688
Well, it is true. My bank (and most here in Sweden) only offer MasterCard.

I feel like sometimes large companies have to know when not to over-reach. Certain actions are downright creepy. Turns people off.

@norman70688
Sadly yes....

@trollonaboat The question is, are they going to keep the data for ads only, or resell it to someone else? I wonder what insurance companies could do in the US, knowing that one buys certain things.

@bcye Thanks for the source, but...

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Fucking bastards. That's even worse than those Yelp fuckers that I ranted about earlier.

It gets even better.. viewing the Terms of Service of theirs, same goddamn fucking message! What a joke. Bloomberg, incompetent pieces of shit.

Also.. Google and marketing cunts, you filthy motherfuckers!!! Do I really have to use cash all the time, not get any customer cards from stores, and all of that other crap just to not be affected by the unethical stuff - bordering crime - that THOSE COMPANIES commit?!

Yup this is scary as fuck. Don't have a credit card and now definitely not going to get one.

Too badly cash is slowly being pushed out in my country (cashless stores and busses are emerging quickly)

I've seen that most of the people in Japan prefer cash transactions only.