Google Attribution will help advertisers track your credit card spending

Google wants to help advertisers know just how much their ads make a difference. In a blog post, the company announced their service Google Attribution, which will track credit and debit card spending along with offline purchases. "For the first time, Google Attribution makes it possible for every marketer to measure the impact of their marketing across devices and cross-channel - all in one place." Google has a ton of data to track user spending from the moment they see an ad to the minute they go to the advertiser's site to make a purchase. Details on what you spend your money on won't be accessed and data on the values of all purchases in a given time period will be collected. But not everyone is excited to hear about the new feature, as privacy concerns raise awareness. Renate Samson from Big Brother Watch urges more users to take more control over their virtual information. "Companies track and monitor in order to advertise to us. If we don't want them to do that, take control; don't give your email address for a digital receipt, check the terms and conditions, avoid using loyalty cards and where possible choose to pay with cash." Renate Samson