
RadioShack puts customer personal data up for sale in bankruptcy auction - adamnemecek
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2901028/radioshack-puts-customers-personal-data-up-for-sale-in-bankruptcy-auction.html?
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bigiain
Like nobody ever saw that coming...

"Sure, your privacy is important to us - but not to our liquidator, and not as
important as maximising shareholder value, sorry..."

I expect 1060 West Addison St, Chicago, IL, 60613 is about to get a bunch more
spam addressed to Elwood Blues. :-)

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jeffwass
I went to RadioShack in Boston around the late 90's to buy some batteries, and
the clerk asked for my name and address. I was not in a mood to play their
personal information game, so I just said "John Doe" thinking he'd just drop
it. He then responded "of 123 Maple Street?" "Yup".

Any time I've bought something at RadioShack since, I've made sure to use John
Doe at 123 Maple Street in the city the Store was located in. Maybe half the
time someone had already beat me to it.

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mathattack
For the uninitiated, is there cultural significance to 123 Maple Street?

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Torgo
No, it's just an extremely generic name and the employee looked up John Doe on
the computer and it was already in there because of someone else who didn't
want to give up their name.

I'm going to start registering that everywhere now, just to see how long it
lasts.

~~~
mathattack
Thanks! I caught the 1060 Addison reference from the Blues Brothers. Was
thinking I was behind the times on something similar here.

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sp332
See, they're not selling customer data to another company, they're just
selling the part of Radio Shack that owns the customer data! Totally
different!

~~~
pen2l
You joke, but you bring up a good point. Would we have been as outraged if
some big company was buying Radioshack as a whole for a small price? Because
in effect the same thing would be happening... customer personal data would be
transferred to some other company.

But this pcworld article frames in such a way that "customer personal data
being sold!!!" is emphasized and makes it more pernicious than it really is --
or rather, makes it sound like it isn't business as usual, when really, it
really is!

~~~
sp332
If I gave RadioShack my data, it would be because I wanted them to have it. If
I wanted some other company to have that, I would have given it to them
already.

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ck2
If you are buying things with debit/credit cards the banks that issue those
cards are already selling your data without your knowledge.

It is opt-out only and you have to do it in writing, there is no online
hassle-free way to do it, which is on purpose. There is also no way to confirm
they really stopped selling your data.

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BetaMechazawa
Is this an American thing? Because I've never had my bank, my provider, my
health care etc sell any of my data (at least as far as I know).

~~~
jeffwass
How would you know?

Do you have a credit card, and have you read the pages of fine print?

~~~
icebraining
Maybe (s)he has decent data protection laws in his/her country. I'm pretty
sure this would be illegal in the EU, under the Directive 95/46/EC.

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skidoo
That is adorable.

~~~
icebraining
Thanks, darling.

To make myself clear, I'm not saying they don't do it. I'm saying it's
probably illegal, therefore the fine print doesn't matter.

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Animats
Even the Texas state attorney general isn't putting up with this. One would
think that Texas would be all for companies doing whatever they want, but no.

~~~
Animats
Now the New York state AG, too. What's left of Radio Shack probably isn't
going to get away with this.

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logfromblammo
That's actually one of the reasons why I avoided shopping at Radio Shack.

Every other business in town just silently pulls your information using the
bank card, and leaves cash customers alone. Asking for my telephone number
and/or ZIP code is not a necessary part of the transaction.

I don't actually care much that they have the info. There's no easy way around
it, and if you ever order goods to be delivered to your home, you're hardly
keeping it a secret. What I really objected to was the extra inconvenience at
the point of sale.

And also having to endure "help" from clueless employees. I hate that "can I
help you find anything, sir?" If I need help, I will find a person who doesn't
look like a total noob and ask them, because I really don't need another warm
body scanning the shelves next to me, who doesn't even know what the thing I
want looks like.

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pmorici
It's standard to sell customer data in bankruptcy. Something to think about
even if you trust the company you are providing info to to use it
appropriately.

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lost_my_pwd
The RadioShack sale may have just been completed but it there's still some
hope:

[http://www.pcworld.com/article/2901995/new-york-threatens-
ac...](http://www.pcworld.com/article/2901995/new-york-threatens-action-if-
radioshack-sells-customer-data.html)

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matt_s
I'm not sure I understand the outrage of personal data that retailers have
outside of actual credit card details. They know someone at address 123 Street
or email address johndoe@email.com bought batteries or a phone or a tv? Okay
and you're going to get more emails or snail mail advertising crap to you.
Spam folder or garbage bin.

Also - how is this actually worth any real dollars to another company? In this
day and age are there really companies with a valid business model that rely
on getting lists of random consumers who bought electronic crap? Isn't that
like everyone that has an address.

Really, please someone enlighten me about this.

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ourmandave
Given all the data breaches lately, they'll probably end up in a price war
with the Russian hackers.

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codecamper
damn i should not have told them my info in exchange for them crappy free
batteries!

(I remember going to the shack with dad as a kid. His favorite thing there
were the free batteries. Just by showing up you could get a free 9v battery.
What a great place!)

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pepijndevos
A lot of TOS include a special section to allow dumb things in the event the
company is bought or goes bankrupt. I assume that's what happened here.

"We will not sell your data, but we don't promise anything about our new
owners"

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ams6110
I always politely declined when asked for my phone number and address and it
was never an issue.. They aren't going to want to lose a sale over it.

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mastratton3
Did RadioShack have any customers?

