Google tracking loyalty card purchases

Search giant draws upon supermarket points cards to gauge who buys after watching online adverts

Google is tracking shoppers on the high street by harvesting loyalty card data about their purchases, a move that has sparked criticism from privacy campaigners. Activists last night called for retailers to come clean about when personal information is being shared with Google. Retailers’ privacy policies only states that data is being shared with third parties, instead of explicitly informing them of personal information going to Google.

GOOGLE is tracking shoppers on the high street by harvesting loyalty card data about their purchases, a move that has sparked criticism from privacy campaigners.

The technology giant will collect spending data from bricks-and-mortar retailers under a scheme set to be launched this year, monitoring consumers’ purchases to test how effective its online adverts are.

By following British shoppers’ use of loyalty schemes such as supermarket points cards and matching them with web users’ browsing history, Google hopes to prove that its lucrative internet adverts can lead to purchases on the high street. A similar programme introduced in the US, which uses credit and debit card payment data, has become the subject of a nationwide legal challenge, with campaigners attacking Google for keeping customers in the dark and raising security concerns.

Privacy groups last night called for retailers to come clean about when personal information is being shared with Google, warning that European data rules coming into law next year will force them to be more transparent.

Google only requires retailers’ privacy policies to say that data is being shared with third parties, instead of explicitly informing them that their personal information is being shared with the company.

Google, which last year made £60billion in advertising revenue, began trialling the technology with a small number of retailers in May. A spokesman said it was now planning a full launch of the programme later this year, allowing any retailer in the UK with a loyalty card scheme to enroll. The technology uses algorithms to match loyalty cards to Google profiles, which are based on search queries, Youtube videos and the use of its mobile apps. This way, it can determine if someone who has seen or clicked on an internet advert has followed it up with an offline purchase.

Google said the data was encrypted and anonymised, so that an individual’s personal information was not shared directly. “We never share any personal information about the users with advertisers for this product. We only report aggregated, anonymised numbers,” the spokesman said.

However, a spokesman for Big Brother Watch said: “It is all well and good for customers to be told that their data will be shared with third parties, but what does that actually mean? We rarely have any idea that a third party could mean a behemoth like Google.

“We should know who is analysing our data and be given the control to deny access without a denial of service.”