Yes, Guest, there's a lot to see. I did an advanced Google search on "databases" and "grocery store cards" and came up with the following. I'll call it

Paranoid as you want to be about "Loyalty Cards":

Some interesting sources:

NoCards.org

The Seattle Press

The Village Voice

Go here for more than you probably want to know about how these databases may be set up, here's some Database design info.

Visit this one for an abstract of a scholarly study.

A couple of scary articles:

When direct marketing consultant Mike DeCastro gets hired to plan a campaign pitching vacations in Mazatlan or cell phone service in San Diego, one of his first moves is to consult an online catalog of customer lists.

Such lists are the lubricant that keep the wheels of our consumer society spinning. If you applied for a loan or used a credit card, your name is on a list. They identify almost everyone who has attended school, subscribed to anything, or bought anything from a catalog, direct mail or online merchant.

Ultimately, such lists also provide the raw material used to build sophisticated computerized databases that have become a multibillion-dollar industry.

"Just about anything that you want to know about anybody is available in a commercial database," said DeCastro of San Francisco.

Most people don't have a clue that such databases compile information from a variety of sources, linking their names to their Social Security numbers, credit profiles, employment histories, travel records, court records, personal interests and chronic health conditions.

And now, under changes ordered by Attorney General John Ashcroft, the FBI is moving to use commercial databases in its efforts to prevent acts of terrorism in the United States.

The change was part of a broader decision, announced by the Justice Department May 30, to loosen the internal policies that guide federal terrorist investigations.

Now, even if they don't have a specific suspect or legal basis for suspicion, "FBI agents under the new guidelines are empowered to scour public sources for information on future terrorist threats," Ashcroft said. [snip] The rest of this is here.

Another scary story:

USA: Store Customer Cards a Source for FBI?

WASHINGTON -- So you have a secret craving for Little Debbie peanut butter bars and a penchant for Kendall-Jackson merlot?

While that customer loyalty card at the supermarket might perceivably save you a few pennies at the checkout counter, your buying habits could end up in the hands of government agents.

According to one privacy expert, at least one national grocery chain voluntarily handed over to the government records from its customer loyalty card database in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

And others say customer databases -- including those culled from travel, financial and insurance industries -- are routinely shared with the government for surveillance purposes.

"I think this is exactly what the FBI wants to do and there really isn't any obstacle to them doing it anymore," charged Lee Tien, a policy analyst with the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Thousands of supermarkets across the country have been offering loyalty cards to their customers for years. Some ask for basic information in their applications, like name, address and phone number. Others ask for more personal information, like Social Security numbers and e-mail addresses.

Each time the card is used, purchases are recorded in a massive database. In exchange, customers get discounts and special offers based on their buying preferences.

"It doesn't take a marketing genius to create an in-depth profile of someone that would be reasonably accurate just based on their purchasing history," said Donna Hoffman, a professor at Vanderbilt University and privacy expert with the campus' E-Lab.

"There has been a lot of discussion about profiling, but I think the concern over the government getting access to customer information is looming on the horizon," she added.

Larry Ponemon, CEO of the Privacy Council, said he was consulted for advice in January by an attorney for a national grocery chain, which in the wake of Sept. 11, had voluntarily delivered up its customer loyalty accounts to the federal government.

"It was not a malicious act, but it was more about feeling they had to do something to help the government look for the bad guys," said Ponemon, who could not reveal the name of the chain.

He said the attorney had since resigned from the chain and would not speak to the press. Despite his advice to the company, cardholders were never informed that their personal information had been shared with the government.

Noting that since the attacks a number of industries were persuaded to share their customer databases with law enforcement, Ponemon said he didn't know whether the practice continues. [snip] for the rest, click here.

SRS