Supermarket Club Cards

Re “Bill Targets Store Discount Clubs,” June 21: State Sen. Debra Bowen must have a lot of time on her hands if she considers supermarket discount clubs a threat to consumers’ privacy. She misunderstands something essential: Shoppers elect to have and use these cards. Discount club cards are purely voluntary; I allow supermarkets to track my buying habits. Bowen should know that it’s fine with me if my local supermarket knows I bought bread, milk, sugar and a 40-watt lightbulb last week.

SB 417 appears to be a waste of time and money.

KENNETH LEIGHTON, Anaheim Hills

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Bowen’s efforts to protect the privacy of our citizens from clandestine sale of their personal information, though laudable, do not go nearly far enough.

If she were to introduce new legislation making it illegal for any commercial organization to sell or transfer personal information of any kind to any third party without advance written consent for each transfer, and also requiring that the proceeds from any such transfer be split 50-50 with the person whose data is being sold, every California citizen would surely support it.

Anything less renders our privacy rights a joke, as they are now.

RANDALL SMITH, Del Mar

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Discussions about eliminating or reining in grocery store discount cards overlook an important benefit of the cards. About a year ago, certain lots of frozen hamburger were thought to have been tainted with E. coli bacteria at the processing plant. When the Price Club learned of this, they were able to go through the purchase data of cardholders, pinpoint those who had bought the hamburger (including me), and send each one a letter explaining what to do.

TIM BRADLEY, Altadena