posted in Technology
Amazon uses its tracking data to guess whether shoppers have a flat butt and no friends
www.theverge.com/tech/1006712/amazon-about-you-shopping-data
Replying to @return2ozma@lemmy.world
This kind of inferred information is useful for them (in some cases), of course. But I can’t help myself wondering if those more ridiculous tidbits are meant for viral marketing. They made everyone talk about Amazon (in somewhat non-negative way) again, right?
Replying to @bugbear@lemmy.sdf.org
Everything they present seems geared towards selling me something. I imagine it is likely worth it for them and checks a box regarding customer information.
Replying to @HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club
Oh, yes. I am sure the original point of making this information available in the first place is following some legislation. It’s just interesting how suddenly everyone’s talking about flat butt and other tidbits, (of course they are, it’s funny) so I wonder whether that was engineered to get this kind of response. Maybe I’m just too cynical these days.
Replying to @bugbear@lemmy.sdf.org
Most journalism is starved to produce any content, so I can see a tech site willing to publish an article like this.
I’ve seen enough technical decisions get made to feel like no one in the room probably understood that this could happen; if anything they were probably worried about telling customers they have a flat ass.
Amazon is definitely a company willing to deceptive things as a way to get ahead, but they aren’t all knowing and all powerful.