What Groupon knows about users will be shared with partners
(CBS) - As if the internet couldn't be creepier, Groupon, the hot startup that filed for an IPO last month, is now collecting more information from users and sharing it with business partners, according to CNET.
On Sunday, the Chicago-based company announced a modification to its privacy policy to 83 million subscribers in an email.
"We wanted to let you know that we've updated both our Privacy Statement and our Terms of Use. These new terms, which affect all Groupon users, accommodate our new products and services that allow us to offer you more relevant deals," Groupon told subscribers.
On the list of changes: an expansion of categories of "personal information" it collects to share with partners and the use of geo-locational information to market online deals.
"That means a partner like Expedia will know if a user recently bought a coupon to stay at an all-inclusive Cancun resort, went skydiving or bought laser hair removal services as a gift for a friend," says The Washington Post.
And if you're getting those great deals based on your location using the recently introduced Groupon Now app, this could mean you're opening another more intrusive door.
"In other words, if you let them, in order to improve the experience and make the Groupon Now app more useful, you're being tracked," says CNET.
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Groupon's partners can then use the extra information to serve up personalized business offerings and advertisements through location-based services.
"All of the changes to the updated privacy statement were made to improve readability, provide greater transparency about our information handling practices, address some new types of relationships Groupon is forging and new technologies Groupon is using or may use, and to let you know about the privacy choices you have," the company told users in a note on its site.
But, Groupon warns, "We encourage Groupon merchants and business partners to adopt and post privacy policies. However, the use of your personal information by such parties is governed by the privacy policies of such parties and is not subject to our control."
Thoughts? Are these changes going to benefit you, Groupon and their partners, or both?
