[imgabe]

> A company will know that you just got paid and so charge you just a bit more for your chicken nuggets than they do when you haven’t been paid in two weeks.

I know there's various data apps can collect. On iOS at least it seems like you have to grant permission for the app to access most of it. But how on Earth is this supposed to work? How does the app on my phone know if I just got paid?

[nerdponx]

Because another app knows you got paid, and that information was sold to some data broker, and now McDonald's knows.

[imgabe]

But then McDonald's could just buy the information. They don't need an app on my phone to get it.

[komali2]

Author here - they can only do surveillance pricing on you if they know who you are when you're paying. They can't do that at a kiosk or counter because they would only know whose paying when you use your credit card and have already seen the bill.

If you use an app they already know you who are and so the second you open the app it's showing you the surveillance prices.

[dylan604]

But if they can get it from an app on your phone, they don't need to buy it. That seems pretty obvious.

[raw_anon_1111]

It’s not because the app knows - your credit card company knows and it sells the information.

[SamuelAdams]

For me I have a recurring calendar appointment reminder for when I get paid. So anything that requests calendar access would know that.