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The story below from Businessweek will certainly give you
some food for thought this weekend.
Remember the discussion a while back on Echelon (the
multiple government based electronic monitoring program).
Forget about the government since you'll never beat them.
See those people on the news who are arrested and cover up
their faces so the news media doesn't have a picture of
them? So how about thinking that you are eating a nice meal
in a quite, private restaurant? Wouldn't you be surprised
to find out that you & your guest's video, eating habits and
perhaps conversations might just be on stored on a server
somewhere? Supposedly, to give you a "better" dining
experience in the long run <snicker>.
Hogwash! Imagine all the nefarious possibilities that
technology is bringing our way. What if the owner of the
restaurant sells his video (& voice????) recordings to the
government (to add to their likely database)? Or perhaps
he's caught in a tax audit and the government grabs his
computers with all the data on it? Or maybe you are dining
with someone from another company discussing a company
merger/sale (insider tip for the restaurant staff?) or
perhaps interviewing for a new job? Maybe you are dining
with someone other than your spouse? Maybe you are a famous
person and the owner sells the tape to the
Enquirer/Star/Dateline? Or maybe one of the staff lets the
data out of the company to his brother, the private
investigator? The possibilities are endless.
But this loss of privacy is not only happening in
restaurants. Casinos have long viewed and recorded people
from the time they enter the casino. The company you work
for may now be putting cameras in the ceiling, monitoring
your email and/or listening to your telephone calls.
Supermarkets are using video to see what shoppers look at
and buy. And on & on.
The privacy exposures that technology is creating is very
scary. Very scary indeed...
JW
http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/mar2000/nf00330b
.htm
Why the Chef May Be Snooping as You Sup
Through tracking software and hidden cameras, restaurants
are filling databases with what customers order and even how
much they tip
Marcia Stepanek is BW's Technology Strategies editor. She
closely follows online privacy issues
Here's some food for thought: Next time you go out to a
fancy restaurant, be aware that you might not be the only
one who's watching what you eat.
That's right. The chef may also be watching -- from the
kitchen. And we're not just talking about an occasional
glance to see if you're dawdling too long over the foie
gras. A growing number of restaurants in Manhattan -- and in
other big cities across the U.S. -- are wiring up their
dining rooms with video cameras and computerized databases,
to keep closer-than-ever tabs on what diners eat, where they
work, and what kind of tip they leave.
Sure, top servers have always kept little black books noting
the habits and preferences of preferred diners. But now,
growing numbers of diners are getting digitized and rated --
and in more detailed ways than ever before -- at an
increasing number of restaurants across America.
SOUP OR SURVEILLANCE? Why worry? With the oceans of
information available on the Net, plus ever-faster computers
and software with names like RSViP and Perfect Host,
restaurants are joining an expanding list of companies --
from banks to retailers -- that are using information
technology to maintain the equivalent of profit-and-loss
statements on every customer. Forrester Research says some
23% of all companies are beginning to use information
technologies to "micro-segment" customers. By this time next
year, the number could swell to 60%.
The aim is to more finely tune and dissect your data
profile. That way, companies can tally what you are likely
to cost them against the profits your bring. But eventually,
privacy advocates worry, they could offer you less or snub
you at the service or reservations desk if your value to the
bottom line is consistently skimpy. This so-called Weblining
raises some serious questions. The technology could evolve,
says Forrester Internet analyst Bob Chatham, and lead to a
commercial culture in which "high-value customers are bought
and sold like derivative securities."
Restaurateurs defend the practice -- so far. If a server can
greet you by name at your favorite restaurant and have the
Pellegrino and Maine oysters waiting for you at your table
of choice, they say, that sure beats a more anonymous form
of service. Rocco DiSpirito, the chef at top-rated Manhattan
eatery Union Pacific, defends the use of video cameras as a
practical measure to deal with unreliable servers and train
servers in other locations.
DATA-DEVOURING. And digital stereotyping can mean marketing
efficiencies: DiSpirito estimates that a new set of digital
cameras he plans to install this summer will boost the
restaurant's efficiency by 35% to 40%. By being able to see
how a table's meal is progressing without waiting for a
server to tell him, he says, he can keep better track of
serving. And he can avoid delays, such as when a waiter
forgets to set down the proper flatware and the kitchen has
to wait before sending out the food.
Another upside: Restaurants can identify the customers it
wants to keep and then woo them with special offers. Says
Massimo Felici, owner of La Nonna in Manhattan, who uses
software from Foodline.com to track patrons: "There are so
many restaurants out there, you don't want to lose any
customers."
But is such data-devouring fair? You might not think so if
your data profile stacks up poorly against that of another
diner just as everyone's phoning in to make reservations on
a busy night. Whether you get squeezed in or not -- and even
the level of service you get if you manage to get seated --
might all depend on your e-dossier.
MINT-SIZE LENS. What goes into those dossiers can vary
widely. At Aureole in Las Vegas, chef Charlie Palmer says he
has 16 cameras positioned around the dining rooms -- and
each can zoom close enough to see what kind of tip you're
leaving as you write out the tab. You may never know it,
unless you look up to the ceiling and spot the
after-dinner-mint-size camera lens above your table.
And cameras represent just one bite into the privacy of
diners. New Net-enabled software is being used by restaurant
owners to build databases on each diner. Credit-card
companies also gather information for restaurants. American
Express, for example, can devise lists of card members who
spend more than a given amount or card members who dine
frequently in a particular restaurant. Then, that restaurant
can, through a third party, send these card members a
special offer. At Oceana, in midtown Manhattan, software
supplied by OpenTable.com is being used to record the dining
history of guests -- to denote which guests bring the
highest value to the restaurant's bottom line and which tend
to be skimpy on their orders.
And watch out if you're one of those who don't honor their
reservations. Restaurants can use OpenTable.com software to
keep track of the number of times a diner hasn't shown up.
That information pops onto the screen when the diner calls
and the reservationist taps the name into the computer. "If
I have to squeeze you in on a booked Saturday night and I
see that you didn't come in when you made a reservation,
I'll give that table to another customer," says Felici.
No question, the Information Age is changing the restaurant
experience. So much for those intimate little dinners out on
the town. Think about that the next time you're tempted to
leave a 10% tip, especially in Manhattan -- regardless of
the kind of service you get. Now someone is probably
watching you sign the tab -- and databases never forget.
Stepanek's column runs twice a month on Business Week
Online. She invites you to discuss these issues on our
Privacy Matters forum
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