Transactional Databases

Bill Rounds

WHAT ARE TRANSACTIONAL DATABASES? 

A transactional database is where a database transaction might consist of one or more data-manipulation statements and queries, each reading and/or writing information in the database. These transactional databases can data mine and manipulate tremendous amounts of information about our personal lives, habits and transactions. 

Most people are aware of the large amounts of consumer and individual information that is being data mined by businesses and retailers. Shopper cards, gym memberships, Amazon account activity, credit card purchases, and many other mundane transactions are routinely recorded, indexed and stored in transactional databases. Even banking transactions in almost all countries around the world are recorded in special databases, eroding bank privacy.

If you are not paying in cash then the information from the purchase along with your identity is probably being stored on one or more transactional databases somewhere in the data mining cloud. Even if you are paying in cash, if you are using some kind of club card that identifies you as the customer, the information is still being collected. You may not even know that your information is being collected through data mining. 

So what if someone knows what kind of salsa you buy at the grocery store? Who cares if my credit card company keeps track of every expense? I do not do anything remotely scandalous or illegal, so what, me worry?