Recently, there was a blurb about Nordstrom following people through their stores by tracking them using NFC or wifi or whatever. I think they were trying to see what shopping patterns users had, what order they looked at things in the store, etc.
Now, suppose we tracked who each of these people were and have their shopping histories.
Let's also suppose we add some facial recognition tech so sales consultants know who they are talking to. In Marisa's case, the sales person could know to recommend new purses or jeans, and even the price range to focus on.
Seems like a win, right?
Now, what if each interaction were analyzed to see how well sales techniques, pressure (or lack thereof) translate into sales. Now, what if instead of Nordstrom doing this themselves, they bought this information from pesky magazine salesmen and so on. Now, they would know which shoppers to focus on and who they can pressure into sales.
I don't mean to pick on Nordstrom here, this could be anyone. But, this is a new arena of privacy that could be exploited to tangible, dollar benefits ... and not one that we really think of. Is my personality private? Is it something that I need to protect?
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