Sunday, November 07, 2004

Electronic Blacklists: Some shoppers find fewer happy returns

I blogged on the topic of blacklisting those who return merchandise to retailers a little while ago (Retailers demanding ID, tracking returns), based on a brief article from Fortune Magazine (which is not available online anymore). Now, MSNBC has a more extensive article on this database, and others that are increasingly being used to profile consumers and employees, often without any regard to nuances that may affect the accuracy of the information:

MSNBC - Some shoppers find fewer happy returns:

"...As more personal information is collected into databases, computers have been handed increasing power to make decisions about our everyday lives. The technological systems aim to solve costly and important business problems, but the proliferation of these 'electronic blacklists' has alarmed consumer and privacy advocacy groups who say many databases have incomplete, incorrect or misleading information...."

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