Shopping Centers Track Customers Via Cell Phone Signals

oschobero writes "According an article from the Times, customers in shopping centers are having their every move tracked. Using cellphone signals, the system can tell when people enter the center, how long they stay in a particular shop, and what route each customer takes. The system works by monitoring the signals produced by mobile handsets and then locating the phone by triangulation." The particular tracking device described by the article is made by an English company called Path Intelligence.

Comments

Hello John Anderton

[nacturation]

Now all we need is retinal/facial recognition and we'll have the perfectly offensive onslaught of advertisements available to us.

How did you like the last ad greeting you by name, John Anderton?

warning sigs at doors

[brenddie]

If the mall is going to use my equipment for their benefit, I should be warned before entering the premises. I see no mention on TFA about the mall warning its customers about the tracking system , besides looking for the antennas on the walls but those can easily be concealed. Maybe someone can come up with a device that changes IMEIs on the fly creating one man stampedes/mobs

Re:warning sigs at doors

[Irish_Samurai]

They aren't using your hardware, they are observing the public signal that your hardware is sending to the towers outside the mall.

prepare for legal action?

[Anonymous Coward]

Iam sure the cellphone companies will love to put a stop to a third party using their $billion privately licensed network infrastructure for commercial gain that they are not a part of.
Of course if ALL the cellphone companies have giving their blessings to recieve their frequencies then the legal threat is reduced, somehow from reading about their tech they dont have permssion.

i presume they have lawyers?, even a ham radio operator could tell you the laws on reception of signals, bottom line no permission, no reception or usage in any way at ALL

Re:Walk randomly.

[Ice Wewe]

Even easier than airplane mode, now with less fuss and bother, we bring you the cell phone jamming pouch! It's so simple, I believe even a blindfolded lab rat could figure out how to use it.

Step 1: Buy pouch (http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.1305 $2.85 at the time of writing w/free shipping!)

Step 2: Put phone in pouch before entering mall

Step 3: Take phone out of pouch periodically to check text messages/make calls.

Step 4: Confuse system by having phone randomly appear for short intervals around the mall.

Step 5: ???

Step 6: Profit!

Re:Walk randomly.

[kesuki]

"Even easier than airplane mode, now with less fuss and bother, we bring you the cell phone jamming pouch! It's so simple, I believe even a blindfolded lab rat could figure out how to use it."

leaving your phone on in said pouch will turn it to 'high power transmit mode' which will kill the typical cell phones battery within an hour.

maybe you can disable this power draining feature in some phones, but i have not yet figured out how on my own phone.

BTW the best way to test your phone for if 'high power' mode is on is to stick it in a microwave oven, if it still gets bars after a minute, it's automatically going to 'high power mode' and yes, microwave ovens don't stop much microwave energy, they are considered safe, because people in the airforce have for years been standing much much closer to much much more powerful microwave generators for many hours at a time... in fact i've read that the first discovery of microwave energy for cooking was an accidentally melted chocolate bar, then intentionally popped popcorn, and finally an egg, which exploded.

Re:it's not unnecessary

[drinkypoo]

Besides, iff off meant it could still be tracked, then if you turned if off, the battery would still drain at a predictable rate, dumbass, it does not.

You clearly have no idea of the technology involved, do you?

The phone only needs to wake up long enough to send one packet to some towers, then turn off. This is especially true in GSM-land; while Sprint and Verizon were able to specify phones with GPS in order to satisfy E911, this didn't really fly for the GSM providers, so they use TDOA - Timed Difference of Arrival. It works like GPS in reverse; the time it takes for the packet to travel from your phone to the towers is measured, at least two signals are compared and a little "magic" (we now call it "signals processing") thrown in, and they can get a pretty good fix.

All your phone has to do is wake up for a couple of seconds every minute and fire off a single ping, and that information can be used to track you. I know this technology is already in common use among GSM providers in the US; not sure about the other guys.

The ONLY reason that cellphones can't be used in the air is the havoc it would wreak on the cell network.