Creepy Coupons: Printed Web Coupons Can Contain Personal Information About You
The New York Timesreports that web coupons contain lots of information about you. The information is contained within each coupon's bar code. The bar code can tell the retailer or manfacturer everything about you from how you found the coupon on the Internet to the location of your Facebook page.
A new breed of coupon, printed from the Internet or sent to mobile phones, is packed with information about the customer who uses it. While the coupons look standard, their bar codes can be loaded with a startling amount of data, including identification about the customer, Internet address, Facebook page information and even the search terms the customer used to find the coupon in the first place.
The New York Times says with the information on a bar code a manufacturer could even know exactly who you are. The Times writes that a retailer could know that "Amy Smith printed a 15 percent-off coupon after searching for appliance discounts at Ebates.com on Friday at 1:30 p.m. and redeemed it later that afternoon at the store."
People might not mind if a small amount of information was transmitted, such as what type of Internet ad or link got them to the coupon, but no one wants personally identifiable information tracked. That's just creepy.
