[mikeash]

Remember when Target snitched to a teenager’s parents that she was pregnant because her purchases fit the “is pregnant” profile, and everyone got outraged, and they stopped profiling people?

Actually, only the first two things happened.

[tedunangst]

Actually, only one of those things happened, the one in the middle. I'll let you dig into Forbes's "sources" to figure out how they managed to twist a hypothetical into something that already happened.

[mikeash]

I did a quick search and found a Forbes article based on a New York Times article which claims it really happened:

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/magazine/shopping-habi...

It is possible that their source was lying or mistaken, of course.

[tedunangst]

I think degrees of hearsay is getting up there, but that's for everyone to decide.

[mikeash]

The author talked to an employee who talked to the man whose daughter was flagged as pregnant. It would be nice if they could have talked directly to the man, but that doesn't seem too distant. In any case, it hardly seems to warrant a scare-quoted "sources," nor would I describe that as "twist a hypothetical."

[alsetmusic]

You have now refuted the story twice in this thread without providing any evidence of its inaccuracies. While I don’t know for certain the validity of the story, you aren’t doing much to persuade me of your position.