Daijiworld Media Network – Mangaluru (ANK)

Mangaluru, Aug 27: A majority of the public today prefer shopping in malls, supermarkets to buy hosieries, clothes, household goods, appliances and many others. After the customer completes his shopping the customer is asked for his mobile number before he is billed. A majority of them give their personal number, while some of them do not. The staff sitting at the billing counter of the supermarket tries to convince and coerce the customer to disclose his phone number at the time of billing with some excuses.

While a majority of them do not give it a thought while disclosing their personal number, what they are not mindful of are the consequences of sharing their number. People do get unsolicited marketing calls and information which may or may not be relevant to their needs. They are likely to even get mails from various educational institutions from other locations which are in no way connected to them.

Representational image

Dr Ananth Prabhu G

A police personnel in Mangaluru shared such an instance where he got a call asking him to part with information about a holiday package. He was curious to know how the marketers got his personal number when he had never gone to the location on a holiday.

Out of curiosity, he found out that he had got a call from an office located in the outskirts of Mangaluru. When he questioned them about how they had got his number, he was told that his number was in their database which was probably sourced from shopping malls and supermarkets through an agent who sold the contact numbers to them (agents).

The cop said he even got mails from various colleges outside Karnataka, and outside Dakshina Kannada district that pertained to admissions. “How did they get my email-id and how did they come to know that my daughter had cleared her PUC exams and was looking for admission into a degree college?” he wondered.

He goes on to add, “We need to be cautious while giving our numbers at the time of billing as there are high chances of your personal details getting misused. So it is better that we avoid sharing our contact numbers during such instances.”

Speaking to daijiworld.com, cyber law and security expert Dr Ananth Prabhu G said, “People may have come across that they ask for your contact details in the supermarket or at the malls at the time of billing. If you refuse to give them your number they come up with several excuses to take your number. There are many reasons why they collect your number. A customer’s shopping preferences and buying habits are analysed using Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools in what is called market basket analysis. They will also know your age and gender and so they start promoting products and services based on your preferences. They are also aware that when you finish using a product, they begin sending marketing information soon after.

“They will also do a complete profiling of the customer including the financial aspects (status) and will market the goods and services accordingly. We constantly share our data be it personal numbers, e-mail ids, Aadhaar card numbers and PAN numbers as there is no law in place to protect the privacy of the citizens. However, in 2023, the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill was passed in both houses of Parliament. The bill will help in protecting individual privacy, protect identity thefts such as profile pictures that are used to create fake social media ID and help in promoting fair and transparent business. The bill facilitates innovation and seeks to avoid leakage of confidential information pertaining to business and also protect children’s privacy.

“Whenever details are sought in supermarkets or malls an individual has the right to refuse and cannot be forced to part with the information on the pretext that the system does not permit him to bill if details are not provided. In such cases a complaint can be lodged with the data protection authority that will take cognizance of the act and take them to task. The supermarkets have to give specific reasons for collecting personal data and what they intend to do with the data. Data can be revoked and if you have given data to a company you have the right to tell them to delete it from their database,” he said.