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Nothing new. Amazon's (now discontinued) browser extension [1] was, among other things, used to get competitive price information w/o being hit by crawling rest

• cj 2y ago
  Now I understand why Capital One pushes their chrome extension [0] so hard every time I login my account. Just took a peak at the TOS for the extension [1] and yep, they're collecting a selling price data. It's crazy that by installing the chrome extension, "you are authorizing and directing [Capital One]" to scrape pricing data yet nothing about that is mentioned on the chrome extension page. > 8. Product and Loyalty Account Information. You understand and acknowledge that, through your use of the Services, you are authorizing and directing us to act on your behalf to collect, use, share, and store information from third-party Merchants and loyalty program providers for which you demonstrate interest during your activities on the Internet. This information includes, but is not limited to, product descriptions, pricing and shipping information, coupons and other discounts, and loyalty program credits or other purchase incentives earned in order to retain and share that information with Merchants and other users of the Services to perform and improve the Services. We may use this information to improve the Services, including by sharing the price information and coupon codes with third parties, but Capital One Shopping won’t specifically identify you to third parties when we share such information with them. [0] https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/capital-one-shopping-save/nenlahapcbofgnanklpelkaejcehkggg?pli=1 https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/capital-one-shoppin... [1] https://capitaloneshopping.com/our-terms/terms-of-service https://capitaloneshopping.com/our-terms/terms-of-service
  • I_AM_A_SMURF 2y ago
    It doesn't make it better, but most internet-related services are like that. They either spy on you or use you to spy on others. To me that's a clear indication that the tech sector is under-scrutinized and under-regulated.
    • jrockway 2y ago
      I think this behavior should be legal. Capital One pays you to install their app to scrape prices. Of course they're scraping prices. It makes website owners mad because there's no IP address to block to prevent scraping, but if they really cared, they would make you request a quote and sign an NDA beforehand. Of course, sales would go to 0 if they did that, so they don't. The chrome extension is a happy workaround. One should be thankful that the big banks are spying on merchants and not you for once ;)
    • Dalewyn 2y ago
      As the saying goes, if a service is free then you are the product.
      • Newlaptop 2y ago
        That was true 10-20 years ago. Today, you're often still the product even if you're paying.
• olliej 2y ago
  In fairness to Amazon, Google was also doing that - by scanning everyone's receipts in gmail. I recall that coming up a few years (a decade?) ago, and was why companies like amazon no longer include useful information directly in emails - it's so great when a critical communication service is operated by an advertising company. [edit: fixed some clunky formatting]
  • nightshift1 2y ago
    This is something that i noticed too while searching for old newegg receipts in my gmail inbox.
  • SR2Z 2y ago
    To be fair, this is on Amazon. I don't give a damn if Google reads generic price lists in my email - spreading price info is good for me, the end consumer.
    • avidiax 2y ago
      > spreading price info is good for me, the end consumer. Public pricing information is good for you. Private pricing information allows sellers to maintain higher prices than they might otherwise.
    • olliej 2y ago
      Google could easily scan for price information. What google is getting is "what did you buy?" so they can target advertising.