I like [email protected]
I always go with “[email protected]” when filling out forms. Doesn’t always work but it works more often than not.
I use a real sounding name like [email protected]
The more real it appears the harder it is to distinguish garbage data. Also a personal VPN with aguard home running. If I end up choosing a real existing email, well I’m just helping muddy the profile of someone else.
No shopping apps ever, loyalty cards in a fake name with email aliases to a central junk mailbox.
To hell with the lot of them and their business model.
They can profile the device and get hardware info depending on make and software etc but the gold is their app which sucks up everything including your phone number and what you visit on their network. I wouldn’t dream of connecting without a vpn unless it was an emergency situation.
That being said data is always preferable when you have the option.
From personal experience I’ve found that an OpenVPN connection routed over port 53 (same as DNS) bypasses their signin screen entirely.
Of course it’s been months since I last tried since I rarely go into the store and don’t have reception issues when I do. Could be they’ve patched it since. Still worth a shot.
Now I have to imagine you standing in the store scanning ports just to get somewhat usable Wi-Fi :)
This may or may not have actually happened.
…okay it totally did.
You are a hero, never change :)
Most definitely. Can’t stop the tinkering. :3
Not only were they already collecting that information, they likely are collecting information about your position in the store from wifi positioning.
Why are all you mother fuckers shopping at Walmart. They are a welfare corporation offloading their costs to tax payers because despite making tons of money they pay shit and skirt employee benefits laws by keeping worker hours low and give new employees info on how to get financial aid such as food stamps.
This is the most privileged thing you could say.
“Hey, why isn’t everyone eating sustainably sourced GMO-free, organic, locally-grown food all the time?”
Spoiler alert: it costs more
Haha exactly. People shop at Walmart because they work at target and don’t make enough money to shop at Whole Foods.
Yeah, this is the thing. Does literally anyone want to go to Walmart? No. Is it the place I can afford? Increasingly, still no. Not sure I can even afford to walk past whatever the good version of a Whole Foods is today, though.
Dollar tree is looking expensive these days
At least dollar tree is significantly easier to shoplift from.
Cause WinCo doesn’t always have what I need, but most importantly:
I’m poor.
A lot of people in rural areas find themselves in situations like being 10 minutes from a walmart and an hour from any other option. So then anything besides walmart costs gas and time, on top of the product cost difference to begin with.
Nobody wants to drive extra after 8 hours of shitty minimum wage work and/or taking care of children.
Not like other grocery stores are any good for workers, either.
I needed a job, alright. I usually shop at hannaford although it’s expensive. I wanna farm someday.
Because all of the other retailers do the same shit only with higher prices. Here in Canada they don’t pay their employees any less than the competition, yet their prices are 30-40% cheaper on average.
That extra 40% doesn’t result in better working conditions for the employees, it goes directly to the shareholders and bonuses for the C-suite.
I respect the hell out of Walmart because they actually keep their price increases tied to inflation and aren’t out there trying to sell a loaf of poverty white bread for $5 or a pack of 4 chicken breasts for $37.
I got some insight from a friend who works at a major supplier for these retail stores in Canada. He said how they manage prices is that when they anticipate a rise in cost they’ll jack the price all the way to a future projected target instead of following the current inflationary rate so that they won’t need to constantly quote their customers different prices. They don’t care because they know it will get passed downstream.
Try luck with throwaway email + VPN. Although it’s possible they’ll still be able to identity you if you’re the only one using that VPN on your local Walmart. At least they won’t be able to see your traffic.
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it’s not like they weren’t doing this before
Sometimes these login portals accept any old bogus email or burner account. They were logging your IP anyway so realistically doesnt add any more compromised dafa
I’m gonna assume that by IP you mean MAC address because your IP is something that gets negotiated with the AP when you connect, changes every time you connect and can’t really be linked back to your device at a public AP. In that case, the right move is to enable MAC randomization and connect through a VPN if you need to hide who you’re talking to or just rely on TLS if you don’t care that they know who you’re talking to and only need to hide what was said.
You can also set randomized MAC addresses in your wifi settings
That’s what I meant when I said “enable MAC randomization”
People think your IP address is the key to your treasures but everyone you communicate with on the Internet has your IP or talks to someone who does.
Yup, meant MAC/other hardware info lol
I am so happy to live in Sweden. All open WiFi networks here are free to use and requires no email or account (VPN recommended as always, though). Even at grocery stores.
That’s generally true in the US as well. That’s why people are so outraged by this.
It was very easy to get free WiFi in the US compared to most EU countries I’ve been in. But here in the EU at least I have cheap data so it’s not all bad.
Lol, I’m jealous. Pretty much all public WiFi requires login in the UK.
This might be anecdotal tbh. I am in the US and I run into captive portals all the freaking time. It’s so annoying.
So Walmart has done it again, huh?
Have you tried reading all the stuff below the email field?
I have. They don’t need your email to do it. In fact, they’ve been doing it forever. Your phone is a bt and wifi beacon.
My comment was to literally try helping op get at least some use out of their predatory behaviour.
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You can just make up some e-mail as, without internet, you couldn’t verify it. Also one of the rare cases where VPN directly improve your privacy.
This is messed up.
I’ve never agreed to this, but I might be on Walmart Wi-Fi from a long time ago. Once recently shopping at Walmart in person I got an email to my account saying something really creepy like, “rate your in store purchases” and sent me pictures of each item I bought IN STORE with an invitation to rate each. Also included my real name. This isn’t even the email I use for my online pickup orders.
Don’t all stores do this, particularly those with membership cards? Isn’t one of the main reasons for these cards to track your purchases in exchange for discounts, besides fostering loyalty? All major stores in my area operate like this. If you use scan-and-pay with a smartphone or another device, joining their membership program is mandatory. They monitor what, when, and where you buy, and sometimes even why. I don’t understand why this surprises some people.
Walmart is not a membership store. I never scanned a membership card, or put in any code or anything. I walked in with my child, browsed around a little bit, ended up purchasing a water gun and some potted flowers, paid at the self-scan, and walked out. I did use a debit card, but that card shouldn’t even be connected with the old account that I got an email for, as the card is years newer than the account.
Oh, sorry, I misunderstood. My bad. I thought the outrage was about them collecting data, which is normal. ; but that’s very strange. How did they connect your purchase/receipt to your email? Have you found out yet?
