My recent experience of doing some groceries at a supermarket chain called Dirk can be easily classified as a first class mass surveillance. An important part of the story was the fact that I had never been to this supermarket before, and so I went to buy some foods there, paying with my Apple Pay as usual. A few hours later, when I came home and watched something on Youtube, a commercial for Dirk appeared on my screen from nowhere. Now, the connection of these two events is obvious and their figures, more or less, too.
Was it Google? Was it Google hand in hand with my bank (ABN Amro)? Was it Dirk? It could be Apple, though, I doubt it as Apple’s strategy is to protect the customer’s privacy and I don’t get adds like this after shopping, for example, in Albert Heijn. What’s certain is that there are more questions than I can answer.