Tech giant Google has reportedly made it to the headlines for having collaborated in private with the financial services corporation, Mastercard. As per sources, the collaboration had been formed a year ago in a bid to use a new tool to track if the ads that were run online resulted in sales at physical stores in the U.S. Reliable reports suggest that the insight came into light after speculating Mastercard’s stockpile transactions reported to be paid by Google. 

According to the company’s spokesperson, Alphabet Inc’s Google and Mastercard Inc. had allegedly agreed on this collaboration post negotiations for about four years. The partnership reportedly gave Google an unrivaled asset for determining retail spending, a strategy that would fortify its business against e-commerce giants such as Amazon.com Inc. and others.

As per The Global News, Google was reported to record an individual on the basis of whether they have clicked an online advertisement and then purchased the item within 30 days of clicking the same. The company will then inform the advertiser that the item was purchased in a store, though Mastercard and Google claim that the data is anonymous in order to protect their user’s privacy.

As per Christine Bannan, Consumer Privacy Counsel at Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), consumers are unaware about the fact that what they buy in retail stores is linked with what they search online. Companies are seemingly loading excess burden on their customers and not educating them about their rights as a consumer, Bannan added.

According to an official statement, Google claims on developing a new, double-blind encryption technology that would effectively prevent both Google and its partners from viewing users’ personally identifiable information.

Mastercard, in its official statement, has reassured the anonymity parameter of user data as it claims that the company will only record the retailer’s name and the total amount of the purchase and will not record the name of the item that was purchased while processing a transaction.