Everyone knows your location: tracking myself down through in-app ads

There are quite a few interesting tracking flows out there.

My rent is paid through a company called Bilt.

I discovered that when I shop at Walgreens now, Bilt sends me an email containing the full receipt of what I bought like so:

    > Hey [inahga],
    >
    > You shopped at Walgreens on 12/1/24 and earned Bilt Points with your
    > Neighborhood Pharmacy benefit.
    >
    > Items eligible for rewards
    > TOSTITOS HINT OF LIME RSTC 11OZ
    > $3.50
    > 
    > +3 pts
    > TOSTITOS RSTC 12OZ
    > $3.50
    >
    > +3 pts
    > Other items*
    > EXCLUDED ITEMS
    > $0.07
    >
    > *May include rewards-ineligible items and/or prescriptions.

Ostensibly (hopefully) it would exclude sensitive items, plan B, condoms, etc...

I'm curious how this data flows from Walgreens to my rent company, but maybe I'd rather not know and just use cash/certified check from now on.

This is called Level 3 data, and any merchant can choose to provide it for a reduction in the transaction fees they pay.

Here's a small comment thread from a few months back: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41213632

So in essence the merchant pays with my data?

Yes, though people also welcome the extra cash back or other card benefits.

Apple Card does not sell this data, IIRC. But offers a lower cash back than many other cards.

True, while Google sees roughly 85% of all American cardholder swipes and doesn't need to sell it since they're making the ad market...