Shiru Café in Rhode Island have innovated a newfangled way to pay for a choice of their fresh and exciting hot beverages via personal data. This data includes full name, address, study course information along with personal and professional aspirations. Shiru’s company sponsors then pay the coffee company to communicate their content across to those who commit to the agreement. Is this a scary new fad? Perhaps not.
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The company explains that students’ data is kept solely for internal use and is not sold to third-party organisations under any circumstances. Instead, Shiru uses data to reach out to university students and tailor professional ideas and advice according to the information they receive about each participant.
Despite the recent tensions circulating around social media giants such as Facebook and Instagram with regard to personal data, Shiru received an incredibly positive response from both university students and campus personnel, with almost 4000 visitors at one of their stores’ grand opening in Brown University. Today, the café serves around 1000 customers per day, with one free beverage on offer in-store every two hours. Would you part with your data for your daily caffeine fix?
