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Sureveillance state creeps into the supermarket

Buried away in an article on the Nintendo WII today in the Daily Telegraph, is the disturbing news that the Police are now able to monitor our activities through our usage of store loyalty cards like the Tesco Clubcard.

Tesco_clubcard According to a senior officer quoted in Police Review magazine, officers are being told that it is legitimate to search a suspect's movements via transactions on their Tesco clubcards.

Detective Superintendent Paul Downing, deputy head of investigative and intelligence training at the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA), said,

"A Tesco clubcard can tell investigators where a person has been and what they have been buying. If we seize it from a suspect, we can ask Tesco for information that can be pertinent to the inquiry."

When I use a store loyalty card I usually expect it to provide me with discounts and special offers; what I don't expect is that it will store up my buying habits, movements and general details, which can then be handed over to the police at their behest.

This is just the latest evidence that the lines between data held by private companies and that which can be used by the police are becoming increasingly blurred. 

By Dylan Sharpe

Posted on October 2, 2009 by Big Brother Watch Posted in Databases, Privacy
  • martha

    and they can do exactly the same everytime you use your plastic to pay…this is why we should all just draw all your wages out the bank on Friday and use cash

  • Bob H

    My wife and I got rid of all our store/loyalty cards a few years ago, and I would advise others to do the same.
    I became aware that they were never for my “benefit”, but for theirs. I hated being monitored and catalogued even by Tesco’s, and this report makes it even more imperative to ditch them.
    Just think, what do you really get from your card? Does it really make you feel that good to be a “loyal” member of Tescos?
    I can be just as light hearted and friendly with the checkout girls without them knowing my name and address.
    Although much more difficult, we also stopped using credit and debit cards. It makes me feel much better to be just an anonymous customer once again, and it perplexes the shops who once they have your card in their hands start to suggest that they add this and that service to your purchase. Its a lot harder when they have been handed the exact amount in cash!