While many experts are pushing new payment systems that allow consumers to use their smartphones to make purchases on their debit and credit card accounts, some privacy experts worry about what impact this might have.
Consumer advocates say that mobile payment systems might pose a significant privacy concern for shoppers who want to avoid having details about their financial transactions broadcast to a number of different companies, according to a report from the
Center for Democracy and Technology. These services might expose purchase data not only to the vendor selling an item or service, but also the credit card processor, the smartphone manufacturer and the mobile payment provider.
In particular, mobile payment services may be able to provide third-party advertisers with everything from purchase data to consumers' phone numbers, email addresses and even shopping history, the report said. This concern can also expose borrowers to unwanted spam.
Eduard Goodman, the chief privacy officer for
Identity Theft 911, has a blog about the concerns consumers may face when sharing their privacy information in any way.
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