Coupons tell retailers what you've been searching for. Do you care?
Cash-strapped consumers are increasingly turning to coupons to help them afford everyday items -- and retailers are meeting that demand by issuing more of them and making them easier to access through the web or on a cell phone.
But the coupons that some retailers are issuing these days aren't your average Sunday morning newspaper variety. Using a special barcode technology, these coupons can gather a shocking amount of intelligence on you -- from where you shop to how you browse the web.
The New York Times reports that these digital coupons can tell retailers:
The search terms you used to find the coupon
Your Facebook page information
The website you printed the coupon from
And other information that can be used to identify you
