Why was Target storing the information of 70 million people in the first place?

[No Elephants]

I recently received from Target an offer for free credit card monitoring for a year. That means I was one of the people whose information was stolen. I have never given any vendor permission to store my credit card number.

I have not bought anything from Target in at least six years. I was never a big Target customer. Target was never going to allow me to buy anything on credit without presenting my card and info again.

Storing data costs money.

So, why was Target storing my credit card info, address, etc., in the first place?

After the Snowden revelations, I read or heard that the USG was selling our info to private vendors and also buying our info from private vendors.

So why was Target storing the information of 70 million people in the first place?

Was it to sell to the USG, or was it to sell to other private vendors? What about foreign governments? Would Target sell my info to them? What prevents Target, or someone who purchased from Target, from selling my info to criminals, intentionally or not?

Why is my address and credit card number a way for Target to increase revenues, anyway?

Why are there no controls over the way in which Target and others can use our personal info? Why are there no controls over the way that my government uses my personal info?


I think that I will be using nothing but cash going forward. Fat lot of good it will do after all the years of credit card purchases. Well, at least I stopped using Paypal after the wikileaks thing.

Dear Target Guest,
As you may have heard or read, Target learned in mid-December that criminals forced their way into our systems and took guest information, including debit and credit card data. Late last week, as part of our ongoing investigation, we learned that additional information, including name, mailing address, phone number or email address, was also taken. I am writing to make you aware that your name, mailing address, phone number or email address may have been taken during the intrusion.
I am truly sorry this incident occurred and sincerely regret any inconvenience it may cause you. Because we value you as a guest and your trust is important to us, Target is offering one year of free credit monitoring to all Target guests who shopped in U.S. stores, through Experian’s® ProtectMyID® product which includes identity theft insurance where available. To receive your unique activation code for this service, please go to creditmonitoring.target.com and register before April 23, 2014. Activation codes must be redeemed by April 30, 2014.
In addition, to guard against possible scams, always be cautious about sharing personal information, such as Social Security numbers, passwords, user IDs and financial account information. Here are some tips that will help protect you:

Never share information with anyone over the phone, email or text, even if they claim to be someone you know or do business with. Instead, ask for a call-back number.
Delete texts immediately from numbers or names you don’t recognize.
Be wary of emails that ask for money or send you to suspicious websites. Don’t click links within emails you don’t recognize.

Target’s email communication regarding this incident will never ask you to provide personal or sensitive information.

Thank you for your patience and loyalty to Target. You can find additional information and FAQs about this incident at our Target.com/databreach website. If you have further questions, you may call us at 866-852-8680.

Guest? LOL! Since when do guests buy up your things? Then again, at this point, "customer" would be presumptuous and "friend" would be a bigger lie than "guest." I love how they warn us to be careful with our own information after they allowed it to go only God knows where.

Apparently, the most stupid thing that I ever did with my own info was shop at Target half a dozen times six to ten years ago.