AOL – by Betsy Mikel
Walmart has plenty of haters. But for many consumers,
Walmart’s prices just can’t be beat. You can’t afford to be choosey when
you’re on a tight budget.
If price is not so much of a concern for you, what if you
discovered that Walmart wants your personal data? And not just data
about your shopping behavior, which we already give hand-over-fist to
Amazon in the name of fast shipping.
Walmart is interested in what’s going on in your body while you shop.
The want to collect this data is a particularly creepy way:
through the handles of their shopping carts. The company recently
submitted a patent to the U.S. Patent and Trademark office called System And Method For A Biometric Feedback Cart Handle, CBInsights reports.
These innovative shopping cart handles would collect your biometric
data, meaning your stress level, your body temperature, and heart rate —
all while you’re strolling through the aisles of your local store,
filling your cart with Walmart’s everyday low-priced items.Putting positive spin on data collection
Walmart is wisely putting a positive spin on why they want to collect shoppers’ biometric data.
Say someone was unwell while shopping in one of their
stores. Their pulse becomes erratic or their temperature drastically
changes. The shopping cart handle would transmit this info real-time to a
server, which would then notify a Walmart associate to go check on the
person.
That sounds awfully altruistic for Walmart. It’s probably
not the only reason America’s largest retailer wants to collect
information about what’s happening inside the minds and bodies of
consumers while they shop.
http://fromthetrenchesworldreport.com/walmart-just-made-an-announcement-that-may-make-you-never-want-to-shop-there-again/234575
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