For several years-that is, since my job as a coder in a marketing research firm-I have realized that my perambulations within the sphere of North American commodity culture are under surveillance. Like you, I am a contemporary moving target leaving behind a trail of information about my habits, preferences, locations and desires every time I use a credit card, coupon, subscribe to a magazine or journal, or answer a questionnaire, which I rarely do now. Every act of consumption is a potential source of information for the smart marketer.