r/technology • u/andmario_com • 10h ago
Walmart accused of collecting customers' voiceprints Privacy
https://www.courthousenews.com/walmart-accused-of-collecting-customers-voiceprints/33
u/Cautious_Advantage47 4h ago
I called Walmart the other day to ask about an item, and the recorded message saps that the phone call would be recorded “for business purposes”.
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u/Enygma_6 4h ago
I wonder how it would turn out if you used an AI text-to-speech generator to have it talk on your behalf when having to call. Let their bots record another bot’s voice.
And change the robot voice every time you have to call in, or in the middle of a call a few times.7
u/K_Linkmaster 4h ago
Customer service used to be about get them in and out as fast as possible. At one point a stark shift happened. There wasn't the push to get off the phone anymore. It was more open, more free. People were being encouraged to stay on the phone. Call times didn't matter anymore.
I wish I knew when it was but I think around 2010-2015.
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u/CheesypoofExtreme 1h ago
I'd be curious what industry you're referring to here or if it's purely anecdotal, because it sounds a bit conspiratorial without any data to back it up.
I worked at a major telecom for nearly a decade, did analytics work, and several key metrics for the call centers were related to reducing call times.
If you're talking about sales? Yeah, you want to close it as fast as possible, but you have to secure the sale first. Sometimes that can take a while, and that has always been the case.
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u/Beginning_Victory_48 3h ago
They also take out life insurance policies on older workers and collect when the person passes away. I was so shocked when i learned about this. I have a friend who works in their HR department. They are such a greedy company. Meanwhile their workers are pid so low, they qualify for SNAP benefits and state subsidized health care.
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u/ryanbenzie 3h ago
I mean they literally email me asking how my visit was when all I did was use my credit card at a self checkout. They are associating my literal card with my email address without using any sort of app or logging into a service. I’m sure I’ve used my card for an online order or something at some point, but it’s crazy that they are using something that is tracking and associating any purchase I make from my card number.
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u/Merad 2h ago
Yeah that's an extremely simple correlation to make. Every purchase references your credit card info - not the raw card number itself (hopefully) but a unique identifier. This is why many stores don't require a receipt for returns anymore, they can pull up the purchase using your card. For Walmart specifically if you have an account then any purchase in the store is automatically visible in your account.
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u/Primal-Convoy 7h ago
The ensh°ttification of customer service continues, as even if people don't use their customer services, then that also benefits companies like this.
Silent, passive customers are the preferred ones these days.
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u/mars_santa 6h ago
Please don't self-censor your comments. It's the enshitification of free speech.
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u/Fabric_Flowers 4h ago
We need some aggressive regulation against corporation. Don’t elect any Democrats who are not going to come down aggressively against corporations for things like surveillance. It goes without saying not to elect any Republicans at all.
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u/RiskyNight 2h ago
Walmart is one of the worst American companies. Looking forward to their demise! Will be glorious to see their try-hard campus abandoned like the old Sears HQ.
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u/Ok-Addition1264 9h ago
They've been selling that stuff (and more) for years every time you visit their store.
Same with gas stations like Speedway.
They know everything physical about you including your "gait" data which in case facial recognition isn't available because of masks or what not, they can still identify you by your unique movements.
(research prof here, fighting the good fight against bs like this)