Previous Politech messages: "Brad Templeton on terror probes, and grocery discount cards" http://www.politechbot.com/p-03830.html "Fed up with those supermarket discount cards? Make your own" http://www.politechbot.com/p-01677.html --- Date: Tue, 15 Jul 2003 14:35:03 -0400 From: Duncan Frissell <frissellat_private> To: declanat_private Subject: Wired News: Gaming the Safeway Club Card Libertarians who have been concerned about those who provide false information to obtain shopper's discount cards (or swap the cards or barcodes after obtaining them) can relax. At least as far as Safeway is concerned, there's no contractual breach. A spokesman with apparent authority to bind the Corporation has informed us that Safeway doesn't mind how creative its card users <get:%A0>get: http://wired.com/news/print/0,1294,59589,00.html For its part, Safeway isn't concerned about Cockerham's project and shrugs off any Big Brother accusations. "It's an odd sort of prank with not any significant impact at all on the operation of our card business," says Safeway spokesman Brian Dowling. "We work hard to protect the privacy of our customers, and don't believe there is any sound rationale behind what (Cockerham's) doing. But he can do whatever he wants." One can assume (in the absence of contrary evidence) that other companies share the same attitude towards their customers. So I don't want to hear any more lectures about how we have to provide truthful info on card applications or forgo the discounts. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ Like Politech? Make a donation here: http://www.politechbot.com/donate/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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