What Stays in Vegas (45 page)

5
. “The average daily number of visitors is up 33 percent, the average daily food and beverage revenue rose 35 percent and the average daily gaming volume increased 23 percent. For the weeks Celine is performing, assuming normalized slot and table hold, these results translate into incremental daily revenue of approximately $200,000, compared to the three months before opening,” the company stated in a press release. “Park Place Reports Financial Results for First Quarter 2003,” press release, May 1, 2003.

6
. Email to David Schwartz from Caesars Entertainment Las Vegas, May 24, 2013.

7
. Leading the personal data revolution in gaming proved lucrative for the former professor, who still commutes back to his family in the Boston area. The company's annual reports highlighting its continued growth also list his total compensation: more than $15 million in 2007, rising to almost $40 million in 2008, according to Harrah's annual
10-K report for 2008. The amount fell to almost $6 million in 2009 and jumped back to more than $20 million two years later, according to Caesars' Form 10-K annual report, filed March 15, 2012. The company paid more than $500,000 a year for him to commute from Boston to Las Vegas on company jets, and spent another couple hundred thousand dollars a year on a bodyguard. “For security reasons, Mr. Loveman is required to use our aircraft for personal and business travel,” the company wrote. “The decision to provide Mr. Loveman with the personal security benefit was prompted by the results of an analysis provided by an independent professional consulting firm specializing in executive safety and security.”

8
. Statistics from Joshua Kanter, January 8, 2013. But he later cautioned that such numbers are “notoriously difficult to quantify with accuracy” because Caesars do not know with certainty how much their customers spend elsewhere and because “people don't generally have a good sense of how much they ‘spend' when they visit us.” Kanter email to author, December 26, 2013.

9
. The number of properties changes frequently. In Las Vegas the company's properties include Bally's Las Vegas, Caesars Palace, the Cromwell (formerly known as Bill's Gamblin' Hall and Saloon), Flamingo Las Vegas, Harrah's Las Vegas, Paris Las Vegas, Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino, the Quad Resort and Casino (“The Quad”), and Rio All-Suites Hotel and Casino. Among the brands in the company stable are Harrah's, Grand Biloxi, Bally's, Flamingo, Paris, Caesars Palace, Rio, Showboat, and Harveys. In early 2014, as part of the company's complicated restructuring that created Caesars Entertainment Operating Company, Caesars Entertainment Resort Properties, and Caesars Growth Partners, several of these properties changed hands.

10
. In casinos in the United States, Canada, Britain, Egypt, and South Africa, as well as online in France and Italy.

11
. Jacqueline Beato (Caesars vice president of finance), presentation to Bank of America Merrill Lynch 2013 Leveraged Finance Conference, December 5, 2013, at
http://is.gd/5OEhef
.

12
. Comparative statistics from Acxiom CEO Scott Howe, email to author, March 10, 2014. Google spokesman Jason Freidenfelds said the company conducts more than a hundred billion searches a month but declined to give exact numbers. Email to author, March 10, 2014.

13
. Author interview with Scott Howe, November 1, 2013.

14
. Other data brokers have reacted similarly, with rivals such as Experian not showing any interest in following Acxiom's lead.

Chapter 18: The Not-So-Enriching Business of Privacy

1
. These quotes are as recalled by Shane Green. In a separate interview, Dyson said she does not recall the exact conversation but said his recollection accurately reflected her sentiments. She cited
Mint.com
as an exception to those companies that encourage people to give them personal information but have not gone to the dark side. After initially declining to invest, Dyson agreed to join
Personal.com's
board of directors and invested in the company in 2013.

2
. Another example of a successful company in a related field is LifeLock, which offers identity theft protection services. They reported a profit in 2012, a year in which they also went public, as well as in 2013.

3
. One
Reputation.com
ad reads, “Do you know what potential customers see when they Google you or your business? You should. Because negative results or reviews—true or not—could be driving them to your competitors, costing you real money.”

4
. The company declined my request to send a mailing to some of its clients asking them if they realized they were on such a mailing list and to seek out their opinions on direct marketing. For a description of their mailing lists for sale, see
http://is.gd/EO19vb
.

5
. “While we won't share your email address with other companies, we may rent, sell or exchange your postal mailing address and information about your transactions with businesses that we believe to be reputable and that can provide you with offers and information that we think will be of interest to you.” See
www.adameve.com/t-faq.aspx
.

6
. Comments posted at
www.reddit.com/r/sex/comments/1diciq/
.

7
. In 2013 Saracevic moved on, leaving his full-time job at
Personal.com
to focus on making Sarajevo an IT development hub (he remains a shareholder in
Personal.com
).

8
. Email from CEO Shane Green to author, March 16, 2014.

9
. Adam Tanner, “Others Take Your Data for Free, This Site Pays Cash,”
Forbes,
March 3, 2014.

10
. Author interview with Scott Howe, March 3, 2014.

Chapter 19: Empowerment

1
. Vance Packard,
The Hidden Persuaders
(New York: D. McKay Company, 1957), 3.

2
. Ibid., 266.

3
. Lester Wunderman,
Being Direct
(New York: Random House, 1996), 164.

4
. Author interview with Lester Wunderman, January 22, 2013.

5
. Customer Loyalty panel, “One To One Marketing Conference,” Harvard Business School, December 4, 2011.

6
. Email to author, March 18, 2014. “Spokeo deleted the ‘Wealth' section from personal profiles. This section previously contained certain data relating to credit estimates and estimated wealth levels. All financial related estimates now relate solely to the neighborhood in which the individual resides,” Tang said. “Spokeo also deleted the ‘Lifestyle and Interests' section from personal profiles. This section previously contained certain attributes based upon an individual's interests and purchasing behaviors.”

7
. For example,
Zinch.com
helps link up students with universities and scholarships. Its privacy policy is 6,269 words long, longer than many chapters in this book. The kernel of the policy is not unexpected. The company supplements information users provide with outside data to target offers and advertising from them and third-party providers.

8
. One additional area where your data are protected is video rental records, thanks to a law passed in 1988 after a newspaper obtained and published details of Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork's video rentals.

9
. Author interview with Diana Alba, May 22, 2013.

10
. Downey changed jobs in 2014 to become director of marketing at Ovuline.

11
.
Fowler v. Intelius,
No. 3:10-CV-15-TS (US District Court, N.D. Indiana), January 13, 2010.

12
. When I explained how this process worked in a 2013 article for
Forbes,
the story quickly went viral online, with many readers expressing their indignation and surprise. Adam Tanner, “Never Give Stores Your ZIP Code. Here's Why,”
Forbes,
June 19, 2013, at
http://is.gd/RP8knj
.

13
. Adam Tanner, “Yes, Gas Pumps Really Do Need Your ZIP Code (Even If Stores Usually Do Not),”
Forbes,
July 12, 2013.

14
. Adam Tanner, “Data Brokers Are Now Selling Your Car's Location for $10 Online,”
Forbes.com
, July 10, 2013.

15
. Adam Tanner, “Anonymous Sex Survey Takers Get Identified in Data Dive,”
Forbes.com
, October 11, 2013. The researcher showed it was theoretically possible but did not actually reidentify people.

16
. By contrast, the antics of celebrities in Vegas often become public knowledge. Golfer Tiger Woods's affairs in the city eventually became widely known. O. J. Simpson was sentenced to a lengthy time in prison for breaking into a sports memorabilia dealer's hotel in 2007, convicted of robbery and kidnapping, among other charges.

17
. Presentation to Harvard's Data Privacy Lab, March 3, 2014.

18
. Email to author, March 15, 2014.

19
. See
www.google.com/settings/takeout/custom/gmail,calendar
.

                  
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