Creepy 2020

[Randall Reetz]

You have a choice.  Dont sign up for "special" sales gimmicks.  Coupons, and the like dominate our retail world because people are stupid or greedy enough and especially selfish enough to take part and thus demand such false economy systems.  Safeway spends hundereds of millions of dollars on these schemes.  Who pays that cost?.  Those who sign up pay some of that cost, but especially those good people who wont.  It is a draconian tax on those who still have a sence of morality and responcibility towards others.  If people cared more about the health of the economy than saving 29 cents on a 12 pack of toilet paper, the cost of all goods would come down.  Very time we sign up for or make use of a membership program we are saying "i want someone else to pay for my greed", and we are saying that to people with a greater sence of morality and a greater respect for comunity anf the future.  Is saving 29 cents worth the moral cost that it represents?  If so, we deserve the economic crash and global climate catastrophe.  In a global economy we vote more with our puchaces than in the polling booth.  Lets all start owning up to the fact that we are buying more than toilet paper each time we go to the checkout register.  Maybe 29 cents is a bargain if what you are really buying is social welfair, fairness, trust and respect for your fellow humans, and a much more stable future.

-----Original Message-----
From: "Lynn Fredricks" <lfredricks at proactive-intl.com>
To: "'How to use Revolution'" <use-revolution at lists.runrev.com>
Sent: 7/2/2009 10:14 AM
Subject: RE: Creepy 2020

> I still think it ironic that we are intolerant of governments 
> and corporations when they engage in behaviors we excuse in 
> our selves.

I wouldn't lump these two together. But if your point is that corporations
are just providing a service that we want, I can see your point.

The problem I see is that at least in the United States, for the most part,
we don't own our own data. It is also legal, apparently, to attach penalties
(or should it be "benefits") to not disclosing data when its for services
that have nothing to do with the service.

For example - does Safeway really need to know that I, personally, bought
Ben & Jerry's Imagine World Peace, or that my preferences for this ice cream
occur on date X in location Y? If I do not disclose this information by
using a "rewards card", that Ill be charged significantly more?

For purely inventory purposes, they don't really need to know that. As a
reseller, they haven't any vested right in the "property" of the product to
even ask that - they haven't licensed that pint to me. Now its perhaps good
for them to know that this particular store sells through this particular
product at rate X - but they do not need to tag me with that information.
What combination of "future devices" can be used in the future with this
information? How will Safeway, in the future, utilize that information to
provide complementary services with its partners?

Best regards,

Lynn Fredricks
President
Paradigma Software
http://www.paradigmasoft.com

Valentina SQL Server: The Ultra-fast, Royalty Free Database Server 

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