Decathlon collects and shares its customers’ data without their active consent with multiple brands of the Valiuz subsidiary.
Does the sports and leisure company grant itself too much freedom with regard to our personal data? On Twitter, the Pixel de Tracking account, which specializes in the theme of surveillance on the Web, points to the methods of the French group.
Decathlon shares your data with Auchan and many others by default
At first, it is surprising that a Decathlon user account is also linked to “partners”. These are not clearly explained on the login screen and on the pop-up window explaining that a Decathlon account allows you to benefit from a set of services that go beyond this simple sign.
You have to go to the “Data usage” section of the account settings to realize that there is an option to ” enrich [son] Decathlon account by [ses] interactions with other brands of the Valiuz alliance (and vice versa) “. Problem: This is enabled by default.
Valiuz brings together brands such as Auchan, Boulanger, Kiabi, Leroy Merlin, Norauto, Flunch, Alinea, Jules, Saint Maclou, Electro Dépôt and 3 Brasseurs. Our data therefore passes between all these companies if we do not manually deactivate the option in question.
A questionable idea of consent
As Pixel from Tracking points out, this practice is in total opposition to Decathlon’s promise, which ensures that it does not use its customers’ data without their consent.
Valiuz uses the Mediarithmics cookie to collect user browsing data on an alliance website. By hashing and cross-checking, information that is supposed to be anonymous is associated with your account in order to establish an advertising profile.
The source also denounces the fact that on the Valiuz site, the information processing parameters interface is deliberately unclear. By default, the tracking function button is OFF, which suggests that tracking is inactive. This is not the case, and it must be toggled ON to disable tracking. At Valiuz, which belongs to the powerful Mulliez family, there is no shortage of ideas to deceive consumers.
Source : Tracking pixels
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