Recently I received a notice from Vons informing me of their ‘new and improved’ Privacy Policy – a whopping 47 pages!
Albertsons owns Vons along with more than 20 other grocery stores that were once independent – i.e. they have gobbled up their competition and are now seeking more control/dollars from our personal data.
This is happening not just at Vons/Albertsons but at many retailers, banks, hospitals, doctors’ offices, etc. Most of these agreements are so convoluted and long that most people don’t read them – which they count on, as you are trapped once you consent to get a ‘free’ service.
While big corporations seek mergers/acquisitions to capture maximum profits and minimize or destroy competition, our federal and state governments are supposed to be there to guard against these baser inclinations via anti-trust laws, that are designed to protect and promote competition and choice.
Unfortunately, these regulatory agencies do nothing of the kind – instead, rubber stamping most of these deals and hanging the consumer out to dry.
Several of the most disturbing elements of the Vons/Albertson’s privacy policy are:
1. Collecting personal data – basically everything they can grab.
2. Cameras in-store and parking lot tracking and capturing video and images of you, your vehicle, those with you and “others”.
3. All or some of your personal data “may” be shared with third parties as well as collecting information about you from third parties.
4. They may collect information from our browsers or devices, also working with third parties to help “personalize marketing” to us and to provide data analytic services.
5. Location-tracking.
6. Personal Data storage – mainly in the US. “However, we may transfer, process, and store this information in some other countries. By shopping with us. using our websites and mobile applications, you consent to the transfer to, processing and storage of your Personal Data in countries outside the US where data protection laws may differ.” (YIKES!)
7. While they don’t regularly provide information they capture to law enforcement, insurance carriers and other third parties, they may do so if asked.
8. Financial incentives (bribes) are offered to get us to give up our Personal Data.
9. While you can opt-out of some of this data grab, it has been made to be an extremely onerous process.
The real goal is for capture of personal data including digital ID and biometics – efforts that dovetail into international plans by the UN, WHO, WEF, Central Banks, and elite globalists’ to have everyone tracked, traced and controlled by 2030. This is being done with the active participation of our government.
If we blindly accept this, we are sleepwalking into and furthering a surveillance state – already largely a reality in communist China. If you value individual and national sovereignty and privacy, you need to read these policies and opt-out or do business elsewhere, including online. The cautionary saying, “If it is free, then you are the product.” is true.
