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08/31/2003 Archived Entry: "Big Brother Babysits the Mall"

BIG BROTHER AT THE MALL: Robin Wallace discusses all the information that retailers are asking for these days even if your making a simple purchase.

What many Americans don't realize is that their enthusiastic consumerism does a lot more for the interests of national security than keeping the economy strong. Long after credit card bills are paid and checking accounts replenished, the information retailers collect about customers in those increasingly intrusive mini-interrogations at the cash register--zip codes, phone numbers, purchases, even point of purchase requests for email addresses and Social Security numbers--remains bouncing around networks of computer databases, permanently traceable and trackable by the government.

Read on.