Credit cards: modern-day spies

The time is here: MasterCard is getting into “behavioural” biometric data collection, surveying their customers’ lifestyles.

Why?

Because banks and payment processors see the idea of thorough biometric surveillance as that perfect “match.”

Critics claim it’s a match made in hell, but who are they?

But still: who would have thunk that a joke making rounds on the Internet just a few years ago would become reality, and that the perpetrators would be proud of their deeds?

You didn’t know the joke? Here it is: a guy, let’s call him John, tried to order a pizza over the phone from his favourite joint, Gordon’s Pizza.

Here’s the conversation: “Hello! Gordon’s Pizza?”

Electronic voice replied: “No, sir, it’s Google’s Pizza.”

“Oops,” said the caller, “wrong number? Sorry.”

Nonono, the number is correct, it’s just that the establishment has a new owner.

Click one to order. The man did, and the automated voice asked: “Your usual?”

“Huh? My usual? You know me?”

The voice listed the customer’s preferences and told him he ought to eat something else, a pizza stuffed with ricotta, dry tomato, and arugula.

Absolutely not, said the client. He hates vegetables, always has. But, the electronic voice said, you have abnormal levels of cholesterol.

“How do you know?”

The voice explained what databases are all about, and the customer said, “Fine, but still, I’d prefer my usual meal, and, besides, I’m taking this medication to battle the cholesterol issue.”

The voice begged to differ: “Excuse me, but you have not taken the medicine regularly. You only purchased a box with 30 cholesterol tablets at Drugsale Network four months ago.”

“I bought more packs elsewhere,” the customer said.

“It’s not showing on your credit card statement,” the robotic moron replied.

“I paid in cash,” thus the customer, hoping against all hope that he’d prevailed.

He didn’t: “But you did not withdraw that much cash, your bank statement shows.”

Banging his head against the wall, the customer said: “I have other sources of cash.”

He should have kept his mouth shut: “This is not showing on your last tax return. Unless you bought them from undeclared income source.”

Now obviously angry, the customer yelled, “What the hell!”

The artificially intelligent voice got the message: “I’m sorry, sir. We use such information only with the intention of helping you…”

Before it could finish, the customer erupted: “Enough! I’m sick of Google, Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp. I’m going to an island with no Internet, cable TV, with no cell phone tower and no one to watch me or spy on me.”

And that’s when got knocked out: “I understand, sir. But you need to renew your passport first, as it expired five weeks ago.”

Back to reality

Behemoths like MasterCard and Visa are realising they have access to massive amounts of highly monetisable people’s data.

Here’s what MasterCard gets whenever you use their card: not only the numbers but also the location, the content of a purchase … and that leads to what these pirates call behavioural patterns. But it doesn’t stop there.

Have you noticed that, if you found a service or a product using Google, advertising for similar goods or services will start popping up on your computer screen?

That’s precisely what MasterCard has in mind. It’s called targeted advertising. Marketing experts are divided on its use: once you’ve bought whatever you needed, ads for similar stuff would only annoy you if you find that competition offers better prices or quality (or both).

Still, companies use it, and credit cards must have figured out there’s money to be made by selling your data to others.

That’s not all

From MasterCard’s own mouth: “Track(ing) personal actions such as typing style and how you hold your phone, as well as habits such as the time of day you usually login or your usual IP address” – does it sound ominous?

It should. Money doesn’t stink and why not sell the data to a government if the price is right?

That’s called surveillance state, and if you care to look around and see how many cameras are hanging from street lights and traffic signals, you would understand.

MasterCard even employs Executive President of Identity Products and Innovation. His name is Dennis Gamiello and he had no issues with confirming that “(…) From the consumer point of view, there’s no card, there’s no phone needed at all (at physical checkouts). You just present yourself at a monitor device.”

At a what? At a hand scanner, or a face scanner, you can forget your credit card at home, even, and you’ll still be shopping to your heart’s content.

That’s called biometrics in commercial action.

Governments won’t need enforce digital IDs: companies such as credit card issuers will do it for them.

Remember Canada’s government turning to banks in order to seize protesting truck drivers’ private accounts and getting away with it?

If you do, remember, too, that financial institutions and credit card companies are linked like Siamese twins.

Tagged: credit, credit-card, credit-cards, finance, travel