NO2ID

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healt ... dvice.html

Chocolate again? Loyalty cards could be used to tailor health advice

Supermarkets may be asked to use loyalty card data to offer tailored advice to their customers on improving their diets and lifestyle, under plans being considered by the Government.

By Robert Winnett, Political Editor

6:00AM BST 25 Jun 2012

A Whitehall unit set up to find discreet ways to change behaviour has begun talks with supermarkets over using their vast databases to help improve the nation’s heath.

The head of the Behavioural Insights Team said that supermarkets had more information about their customers than doctors did and that this information should be harnessed. Shoppers buying large amounts of fatty foods, alcohol and unhealthy products could be quickly identified and offered advice on changing their diet. Parents buying what appears to be an unbalanced diet for their children may also be targeted.

David Halpern, the head of the Cabinet Office team known as the “nudge unit”, said: “If you go and buy your stuff regularly, they [the supermarkets] know exactly what you are buying.”

It is understood that supermarkets will be encouraged to offer advice to their customers but Andrew Lansley, the Health Secretary, has ruled out any Government involvement in the programme. Ministers are thought to be wary of “big brother” accusations and have no wish to study people’s shopping bills.

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Er... this is not going to happen. The reasons why it's not are so obvious I don't even need to state them here.

Another great reason to NOT use loyalty cards IMHO

I can also imagine the reaction if the likes of Tesco started writing to people with preachy letters about how they were buying too much chocolate or whatever. Talk about commercial suicide!

Let alone letters from the NHS that made it obvious they were snooping through one's shopping habits

It does reveal the sort of nightmare world we may one day have, a sort The Island where red lights flash at the tills saying you've exceeded your government mandated choco-ration for the week

Also incredibly easy to bypass

But maybe not so easy to bypass if we all had ID cards. It really was a narrow escape. If they had prevailed just imagine the scope creep that would inevitably have occurred. How long would it have been before you had to present your card at the supermarket checkout? Then it would have been an easy matter to arrange for the flashing red lights when the chocolate quota was exceeded.

So perhaps we aren't talking next year, but once the ID infrastructure was in place maybe 20 years down the road? After all, look what's happened with CCTV.

You'd never be denied anything...

Of course if you exceed your 'limit', it would just cost you more!