How the data age of privacy is dead, Google Now tracks Credit Cards to boost Ads

The tech pundits have been telling us the age of privacy online is over, now they might be right. Read on.

Google now wants to be able to prove their ads work, and would you know, Google now knows when its users go to the store and buy stuff. #GoogleAttribution

The cookie is dead, long live the data of the consumer. Tracked, cornered and monetized.

Good on you Alphabet, it was only a matter of time.

Credit-Card Transactional Data

Google has begun using billions of credit-card transaction records to prove its ads work to push people to make purchases.

Even in retail brick-and-mortar stores that are "offline". This allows Google to determine, verify and generate conversion rates on how many sales have been generated by digital ad campaigns.

Holy Grail of Advertising

As Google, Facebook, Amazon and others push the envelope on how user data is used; with each advance in theory, consumer privacy is fading.

Google and Facebook dominate digital advertising; and this pushes the entire field of advertising to another level.

The use of personal info has really in a very short time, gone mainstream to tie in:

• Webrowsing
• Search history
• Geographic location
• Apps and Google Play store
• *Credit Card Transactions

Through a mathematical property we can do double-blind matching between their data and our data. Neither gets to the see the encrypted data that the other side brings - Adwords

As we are at the dawn of the age of the Internet of Things (#IoT); these data points will only increase with devices such as Google Home and Echo Show.

The multi-billion dollar advertising monopolies are built on the Big Data that can fuel innovation and help personalize immersive ads in the future better than ever.

Privacy is Dead

Since Facebook is such a global platform and Google is such a dominant leader in its related industries; it's not consumer behavior that changes the game; it's the policy of these companies.

Privacy advocates are losing; and tech companies are winning. They are the new Banks if you will; and data is the new most valuable resource.

According to TechCrunch, Google is even making its own Ad-blocker. There's no such thing as trust or privacy any more; there's just the way the world works on the new web.

Want a phone, get an iPhone (Apple), need to search - "Google It", want to connect - "Facebook", need to buy something, "Amazon". Ubiquitous as "go-to" solutions have ever been, there's a reason these are the top companies.

We all Win for Data

It's clear the web is driving our entire economy and social norms gradually to a world where just to live, we "opt-in" to share our data.

The Tech giants would have it no other way; this drives their profits and increases their monopoly.

But let's make no mistake, consumers also win; as they receive more personalized services at the cusp a world of increasing algorithms and artificial intelligence.

What Google Assistant knows, won't kills us, am I right?

Google is creating an Alphabet for the Future

Google made $79 billion in revenue last year, and has via its partners 70% of credit-card transactions in the U.S.

There's no such thing as intrusion in the future; it's a race to your data; and Facebook, Google and Amazon are creating some of the biggest Big Data sets that will be leveraged in the future to monetize each one of us.

Data is a Currency and the Consumer is the Hack

There are no morals in technology; there's only progress and legal precedents. To take market share from each other; the monopolies have to become even more like "evil" monopolies.

Of course tech companies take "necessary precautions" to make sure your data is "anonymous" (encrypted) and write up very stringent user privacy requirements; but the bottom line is that privacy has been eroding for quite some time.

Warning; This Web is a Dark Place

Whether it's a lack of accountability in Facebook's metrics or outcries from Advertisers on YouTube placements in offensive content; the system is far from perfect.

We aren't building a world for Edward Snowden to be proud of, we're building a world where Silicon Valley norms dictate our lives.

If Google makes for a good spy, the future of privacy is quite the thriller. It's just the beginning.

Genius of Omnichannel Retail

Using credit card transactions complements geo-targeting and Google Maps to tie in ads with physical purchases.

It's genius as it is a system of exploitation and the new consumer likely doesn't care. They want personalization, fulfillment and convenience; at any cost.

Should we be cheering for Advertising's digital hurrah or be protesting in mock-fear of the data age?

Google said:

"For the first time, Google Attribution makes it possible for every marketer to measure the impact of their marketing across devices and cross-channel - all in one place."

It's a good day when we can call the death of privacy such a pleasant word as Google Attribution.

This realization touches upon the future of payments, retail, advertising and the mobile consumer, and it might have far reaching consequences on how Facebook and Amazon react.

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Do advertising clients deserve to have proof (of ROI) that those Ads are effective even if it's at the expense of consumer data? Do we even care about the Privacy of our data anymore?