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How to avoid the gathering of your biometric data without your permission while you are shopping.
As if you didn’t need another reason to avoid Big Box retailers, plans are in the works to roll out a biometric data-gathering shopping cart with Walmart first in line to implement the privacy-invading technology.
A patent is in process for a “biometric feedback” shopping cart handle that measures heart rate, temperature, speed, and the amount of force a shopper applies to the handle while browsing around a store.
This shocking invasion of personal privacy is “all in the name of safety” of course!
The biometric data for each shopper is collected by a central computer server. If these measurements indicate that a shopper is not happy with their shopping experience, an alert would be sent to a customer service assistant. (1)
The data can also alert staff to a potential thief via stronger than normal squeezing of the shopping cart handle and/or elevated heart rate.
Tracking Shoppers Without Their Knowledge
Think this is far-fetched?
Some shopping centers are already using Bluetooth as a means of tracking customers around stores. The technology includes gaze detection to tell companies what’s grabbing a customer’s attention in a window display or how he/she feels about a product display. (2)
Besides a shocking invasion of privacy without customer consent, these concentrated EMFs can give sensitive shoppers symptoms such as headaches or blurry vision among other issues.
In addition to the “smart” shopping cart, Walmart has already patented technology to eavesdrop on customers. So, taking it a step further to track heart rate, temperature, and handle squeeze (an indication of potential theft) is just a hop, skip, and a jump away.
The video below summarizes how smart carts work, making it look all happy, safe, and wonderful for everyone of course. (3)
How to Foil Smart Shopping Carts
The good news is that there are ways to foil this technology.
The best way, of course, is to avoid shopping at Big Box retailers at all! Try to start now changing your shopping habits, so that when the smart shopping cart rolls out, you are already patronizing other businesses.
I personally only visit Walmart once in a blue moon…perhaps only 3 or so times per year. I hope to reduce this even further to zero if possible!
If you must visit Walmart or other privacy-invading companies or shopping centers on occasion (hopefully it’s rare or never), here are a few tips to avoid data mining without your permission:
- Don’t use shopping carts at all. Use a handheld shopping basket provided by the store or a large cloth bag you bring yourself. This has the added benefit of getting you used to bringing your own reusable bags to the store and not relying on plastic or paper.
- If you must use a cart, keep a small piece of aluminum foil folded up in your purse or pocket when you shop. An approximate size that works is 24 inches long and 6 inches wide. Use the foil to cover the shopping cart handle where your hands will touch it. Cover the foil with a hand towel to look less conspicuous if you like. The metal layer prevents connectivity between your body and the sensors. In turn, this stops the gathering of your personal biometric data such as heart rate and temperature. The speed of the cart will still be measured, however. The only way to avoid this is to not use a cart.
- Wear dark sunglasses to prevent gaze detection technology from targeting you.
- Be sure to leave your smartphone in the car or keep it in a privacy bag to prevent location tracking. Turning your phone off or on airplane mode is NOT sufficient to prevent tracking! This is the privacy purse I use.
- If you are shopping with someone, converse as little as possible or if you know sign language, use it. This prevents eavesdropping on your personal conversations.
- While home delivery is a good option, it is not a solution to avoiding surveillance. Amazon is already rolling out AI cameras on their delivery vehicles in some cities. These cameras scan in all directions and are installed inside the vehicle near the rear-view mirror. The cameras surveil homes under the auspices of “safety” and to help discourage “porch pirates”, but you KNOW it is for data collection too. For example, will people who fly certain flags or have signs supporting “wrongthink” be reported for being “domestic terrorists”? Other companies are likely not far behind. (4)
I find it nothing short of insane that I am even writing about this topic.
Unfortunately, privacy laws are lagging terribly behind technology. Hence, it is critical to stay up to date on what corporations are doing without our permission to invade customer privacy and data-mine our lives.
As mentioned earlier, the best and most effective solution to this outrageous problem is to shop with local small businesses as much as possible!
References
(1, 2) Walmart’s terrifying shopping cart design measures your speed and heart rate
(3) NowThis News
(4) Amazon using AI-Equipped cameras in delivery vans
hi Sarah, thank you for this article. I have not heard of this but sadly, am not surprised at it as sometimes the strangest things are actually true. I appreciate the link for the defender purse. Do you mind sharing the reasons you use a purse like that , or do you have a blog post you have written in the past explaining it? I am curious to learn more about it. Thank you for the work you do.
What about foil lined inside disposable gloves? Yes, I also cannot believe this is even being discussed!
Yes that would work too.
I had no idea about this, thank you for this post Sarah! Knowledge is power. And you are so right that we also have a powerful tool in our consumer spending. I avoid Amazon like the plague. But I’m concerned about smaller towns that don’t have other options. I lived in a small town in Ohio for awhile, and Walmart was the only place that carried certain items people might need in a pinch, like if they can’t buy it online. It comes down to mindful shopping I guess.
Yes, small towns are in a bind as Walmart and Amazon have slowly gained control of most of the business over the past couple of decades.
Rebuilding these small economies is important, and as people realize how critical support for local businesses is to privacy and personal liberties, then there will hopefully be a resurgence!
Wow, just wow. This is just disturbing. How can people be okay with this? Good thing I very rarely frequent Walmart, now I have even less reason to go! Shop small, everyone!
Yes, this is definitely insane.
If it comes to England, I will be carrying my silver foil and dark glasses. I cannot believe I am writing this.
Dear God, help us all.
Thanks for the heads up and infol
Tesco will probably be first to adopt it!
Disgusting is all I can say! One more idea to add to the list though (if you really even want to enter these stores at all) is to pull your cart from the front. I learned to do that after shopping while carrying babies for the last 17 years. It’s easier to control the cart by pulling it. Let’s just stay away though! Ugh!
That’s a great tip! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Actually, privacy laws are in place…..in the Constitution, of all places. The problem is that people do not know their rights and are not standing up for them. If we don’t know our rights, we simply do not have them. Thomas Jefferson said, “If a people expect to be ignorant and free, they want what never was and never will be.” The Constitution has been largely ignored for a great many years.
I am happy to report that shortly after this article published, the governor of Florida announced that new legislation will be introduced designed to prevent the stealing of biometric data by corporations for their own profit. https://www.local10.com/news/local/2021/02/15/watch-live-at-3-pm-desantis-to-hold-news-conference-in-tallahassee/
This makes me want to move to the country and live off the grid, except I too much of a wimp to do that. I always thought being famous would be annoying because you would always feel like people were watching you . . . wait, I don’t need to be famous for that. UGH! It really bothers me that people don’t realize what they are giving up in the name of convenience.
Would keeping you phone on airplane mode have the same privacy as the privacy purse?
Thanks for keeping us aware of the insanity (or potential) going on around us.
According to World Economic Forum, by 2030, privacy will be a luxury good that only the very rich can afford. Hopefully, it will never come to that! Let’s redouble our efforts to spend as much as possible ONLY from small, independent businesses where the owner LIVES in our community and would never dare to abuse customers like this!
Where we spend our money is THE MOST POWERFUL tool we have at our disposal.
OMG. Just…OMG. ??♀️
I, too, find it nothing short of insane that I am reading this article.
How did we get here … when companies think it is ok to harvest biometric data from their unsuspecting customers without their consent to improve their bottom line under the guise of “safety”. And … you know they will be selling that data to other companies for a handsome profit too.