Walmart secret facility

Originally posted by mikellmikell
Americas greatest succest story and Americans hate it. I guess I don't understand the hate other than lazy people who want welfare instead of work.

mikell

Well you probably make more off welfare, than you would starting at Walmart or most all retail stores for that matter. Target is just as bad for the most part, they're just not Numero Uno.

First, businesses do need a secure storage for records and data. WalMart, being huge needs a huge bunker-like storage.
Second, businesses do have trade secrets. Interesting aside, I am old enough to remember when the Berlin wall and Communism fell, the question was, what to do with the CIA. One proposal was to turn it into an intelligence organization for corporations.
Another aside, speaking of Communism, again being old enough to remember, Americans used to pity the poor Soviets who had to shop at only the GUM department store, with all of capitalist America's choices--well, welcome to WalGum.

I read this thread earlier but didn't post until after the folowing; but now I think I know why they have so much data--
The only time I support WalMart is if I can't buy it elsewhere, and this time was one of those. Now, as we went to checkout, I noticed the new (relatively speaking as this was the first time this year I've been in there) self-check and was torn between a human being working for a living and a machine--mea culpa mea culpa I chose the machine. Why?--curiosity. Actually the wait was longer as the party in front of me had trouble with an item that couldn't scan properly, then because of the large size of my purchases I had to set the bags off the scale onto the floor.
The experience left me detesting WalMart even more. I will not cuss here, but I thought why are we going backward in service! Why do I have to do all this myself? Who the thought this is better? Shame! If corporations are individuals, then they're sociopaths! (I copied and pasted this part from another post)
I think they have so much more data to collect/electronics to run with this damnable self-check system that they need more storage!

Remember Walmart is a huge international company, they will process mind boggling amounts of information on a daily basis in order to work out whats going on and what they need to be doing.

Theyll want that all coming into a central location so they can then distribute it as required. You dont want the heart of your operation being broken into by vandals for fun.

Originally posted by Liamoville
Reading the article, sounds like it could be some sort of Data Storage facility, on all the customers

Ur, you know, you may be more correct than you think.

Did you know that Wallyworld takes your picture when you check out? They have high-res cameras on the checkout lanes, with time markers that can be correlated to the register.

It gets downloaded onto DVDs that are sent to corporate. Why? Who can say. But if you do anything other than cash transactions, they could correlate photos to checkouts. I know the guy that runs the camera/tape system at one of the local stores, the quality is sufficient to identify you.

But Wal-Mart, according to a 2004 New York Times article, had enough storage capacity to contain twice the amount of all the information available on the Internet. For the technically minded, the exact amount was for 460 terabytes of data. The prefix tera comes from the Greek word for monster, and a terabyte is a trillion bytes, the basic unit of computer storage.

460 TRILLION bytes of data? Twice the amount of information available on the Internet? Forget AT&T. I think the NSA is talking to the wrong people...

After read all the connected articles from the first, I am amazed at the potential that stored info has. One report noted that Wal-Mart wanting to biometrically identify customers through video, one of the reasons given was to help law enforcement. Walmart could easily become their own NSA with picture id of every person who buys anything there. This could easily extend beyond marketing trends, especially since Walmart is now involved in banking. Any conspiracy buff could imagine the power that is being stored at this facility. I wonder what the future holds for this info, and how much it is worth to certain agencies.

This is just more interesting bits.

"There's a lot of hand-wringing about how we can find out even more about our customers," she said. "And to the extent that Wal-Mart may be creating the ability to monitor consumers by RFID and identify them by video, I'm extremely concerned. ... If that's the case, they would need that kind of data storage."

At Brockton, Mass., Albrecht said, the company used a surveillance camera on a shelf that was linked to chips in packages of razor blades. When someone picked up a package, she said, the shelf camera would be activated. Another camera would take a mug shot of the customer at the checkout stand.

At Broken Arrow, Okla., she said, the company linked devices in packages of lipstick that triggered a camera that allowed the lipstick manufacturer to watch consumers on live video.

Article about Walmart


[edit on 21-6-2006 by shadow watcher]

It's gotten to the point that shopping at Wal-Mart is like burning the American Flag.

1) Business practices put skilled American workers out of jobs.

2) Business practices put small business owners out of business.

3) Customer service non-existent

4) Wages below the poverty line

5) Systemic problem with uninsured workers

6) Low quality products

7) Invasion of privacy (NEW!)

8) Storehouse of personal data on US Citizens (NEW!)

So, the next time you walk in Wal-Mart go ahead and buy a cheaply "Made in China" US flag and a pack of matches.

Hi all,
This is my first post, so be gentle........
I don't think it is very suprising that such a big company has a sedure building for company secrets and data. I do however think it is very strange that they made the official sign an agreement not to disclose anything. If I lived in the USA I would seriously think about never using Wall-Mart, due to the things that have been said about personal data/pictures being taken.

Just had a scout around with Goggle Earth and the building doesn't look that big or hugely secure;

erm wow a wallmart data centre used for data mining.. all the big store cahins have these. Also some of the information in that artical is just plain wrong, there is more than 460TB of data on the interenet. Infact I can get 460TB of storage at home using 614 750Gb hard disks. Expensive but not that impresive.

Since its a publicly traded company they owe it to their shareholders to protect the data. They have their own credit card and if that data is lost then so is their income. They also accept food stamps and other special cards where that data must be kept secure and safe in order to get paid. If something catastrophic happens they can still bill you even when a bomb falls on your head. As far as customer data goes, well they are no different from any major supermarket that offers those member cards for discounts. They all want customer data on spending habits and such. The companies that supply them pay them for that data too.
Cmon folks everything now a days is about info..Join AOL and they sell everything they can on you, join an online contest and they sell your email. Go to a webite and a cookie gets downloaded to your computer and tracks your web usage. Its all about info and $.
Pie

This super center, is it anywhere near where they plan to cleave America in half with a 10 lane superhighway?

US divided by superhighway plan

A MASSIVE road four football fields wide and running from Mexico to Canada through the heartland of the United States is being proposed amid controversy over security and the damage to the environment.

The "nation's most modern roadway", proposed between Laredo in Texas and Duluth, Minnesota, along Interstate 35, would allow the US to bypass the west coast ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to import goods from China and the Far East into the heart of middle America via Mexico, saving both cost and time.

However, critics argue that the ten-lane road would lay a swathe of concrete on top of an already over-developed transport infrastructure and further open the border with Mexico to illegal immigrants or terrorists.

Edit to say hello and welcome to ATS Hyacinth!

[edit on 21/6/06 by Dae]

Thanks for the welcome Dae.

It appears to be about 230 miles away, the closest point being Oklahoma or just north of..

Originally posted by ThePieMaN
Its all about info and $.

But does that make it right?

It seems that "profit" has not become an acceptable reason for unethical business practices. I miss the good ol' days when "the ends never justify the means" was still a truism in ethics. My how times have changed.

I work at wal-mart and have decided not to shop there or if i do shop there to wear a ski-mask and only pay cash. This may get me some attention from the local LEOs, but it is not illegal so I'll do it anyways.

Wal-mart has what they call a "SMART-System" which records all purchases and tells the system what items need to be ordered and restocked based on this information. It also keeps track of customer information used during checkout(credit card, debit, ID, ect.). This is conjunction with the cameras they use at the checkout lanes is very disturbing. I don't know what they want this info for, but they are going to a lot of expense and effort to get it, so it must be important somehow.

As a side note, and being unrelated. throughout wal-mart and in the back rooms there are round disks mounted up in the ceilings. I asked my super about these and was told they were for tracking the movements of merchandise, but then he absent-mindedly looked me over and asked where my ID badge was. I told him it was in my pocket and he replied with "Ok, just as long as you have it on you." This by itself means nothing I know, but its still something to think about. Later that night I asked the same Nightmanager if he knew anything about the Data Center in Jane, Arkansas. I didn't really take this seriously as a conspiracy and figured since he has been there for 15 years he might know something I could tell you guys, he said he had never heard of it and gave me the third degree about why I was asking so many questions. I told him I was just interested in the company and wanted to learn as much as I could as fast as I could so I could move up in posistion quiker, and he let it go. The next team meeting it was announced that there will be "Agents" from corporate down all next week to evaluate the store and its performance, and will be asking each employee a series of questions. Could be unrelated, but thought it was worth mentioning.

Another unrelated side note, as employees we are told on our first day that if we are aproached by any Govt. agent, NOT TO COOPERATE but to keep them at the front of the store untill a salaried employee can get to them. Is this legal?

Originally posted by Nicotine1982
Another unrelated side note, as employees we are told on our first day that if we are aproached by any Govt. agent, NOT TO COOPERATE but to keep them at the front of the store untill a salaried employee can get to them. Is this legal?

Interesting. I've never heard of that. Unfortunately my brother works at WalMart. I asked him and he said no one has ever said anything like that to him. I'm not saying your lying at all, don't get me wrong. I wonder if thats only certain locations privy to certain information that need to tell their employees that? An interesting thing to say to your workers.

I plan on taking my digital camera next time I go in, to take pics of the disks in the ceiling, I'll take a few more pics of stuff and a pic of the "what to do if..." poster.

I don't know if this makes a difference at all, but supposedly this is one of the first Supercenters.

[edit on 23-6-2006 by Nicotine1982]

Originally posted by cobaltsurfer
460 TRILLION bytes of data? Twice the amount of information available on the Internet? Forget AT&T. I think the NSA is talking to the wrong people...

I think it's probably safe to assume the NSA is already mining Wal-Mart as well as any other major corporate databanks. Obviously they've got the phone companies and libraries (old news). I just found out this morning on NPR they've got the banks via the SWIFT System. Something like a Wal-Mart Data Center is probably child's play to them. We can safely assume the NSA has already integrated the databanks from Wal Mart, Target, Sams, K-Mart, Cosco, etc... any major bulk retailer. And if Karnivore wasn't a reality in the past, you can bet it is now.

So... the NSA can monitor your phone records, your bank records, what you read, what you browse, and what you buy.

And to think there was a point in time where people who thought this was already the case (or would become the case) were considered paranoid.

I posted this in the other walmart thread and dont even know if anyone looked at it.

Cryptome's eyeball series covered this Walmart site and has some really amazing super high resolution aerials of the facility. If you're interested in it these are probably the best images you'll find unless you happen to work in Langley

eyeball-series.org...

Originally posted by SKMDC1

Originally posted by ThePieMaN
Its all about info and $.

But does that make it right?

It seems that "profit" has not become an acceptable reason for unethical business practices. I miss the good ol' days when "the ends never justify the means" was still a truism in ethics. My how times have changed.

Of course its right if we volunteer the info. When you agree to do business with all these companies you are in effect agreeing to all of their practices.
I know what you mean but, you can't say its wrong just because people are sometimes too dumb to take the time to read what they sign. Look at the majority of spyware on the internet, if people actually took the time to read the user agreement it will explain to people that not only are they installing the software they want, they will be installing other software that will generate pop-ups and give their emails out to their "trusted" associates.
From our point of view yes its wrong, but to shareholders and business owners its entirely a different story as long as its done legally.

Pie