Shopping Center Tracking System Condemned by Civil Rights Campaigners

hypnosec writes "Civil rights campaigners have spoken out against a technology used by several shopping centers in the UK to track consumers using their mobile signals. The shopping centers claim that the technology helps them provide better services to consumers and retailers without compromising privacy. The system, called the Footpath, allows them to know how people are spending time in a shopping center, which spots they visit the most and even the route they take while walking around. Several consumer and civil rights groups, including Big Brother Watch, say consumers must be given a choice on whether they want their movement tracked or not." We covered a similar tracking system here in the U.S. last month.

Comments

Incentives

[BlackusDiamondus]

There's an easy way that they could cajole most people into being tracked, and that's to give them "points" which they can spend on good & services depending on the time spent in the shopping centre, etc. That way, both parties get what they want and Big Brother is happy again as Joe Consumer continues on in blissful ignorance.

Re:Incentives

[game kid]

Even simpler, just make them behave like price-reducing, habit-tracking "club cards", except you don't even need to take them out or fill any name-and-address forms to get'em. "1 raisin cereal, $5.00, just $3.99 with your smartphone! No club cards to fumble with--just bring your phone in your pocket and you provide valuable marketing inf^W^W^W^Wsave!"

Re:Incentives

[Anonymous Coward]

Nothing at all, if you sign up for the "loyalty" cards and are happy, good luck to you.

Privacy aside for a second the one thing that always gets me annoyed by all this profiling is that I want some random activity in my life. I discovered I liked carrots by simply buying shredded carrots one day on a whim when I was 19, I hadn't eaten them since I was sick aged 4! I still don't like them that much but I know now that I can eat them when offered without breaking out in a cold sweat. I discovered metal music simply by buying Iron Maiden's Live After Death album for a laugh way back in 1985 after existing on a diet of chart music for 3 years, just like all my friends at the time. I made some silly minor rash actions which lead me onto other things.

If profiling had been in operation and I had been following trends geared towards my current tastes, as I most likely would have been doing when in my teens, I would most likely have never have been advised to simply try carrots again or pick up a vinyl album that day. I don't want some analytical system advising me on what the developers think I might like and won't like based on what I have done previously. These mega-corps don't want you to think and be rash, they want you where they can see you, doing what they think you should be doing, their way. Don't! Go out and go nuts, throw these stupid profiling systems into chaos and discover that your complex and interesting life cannot be simply modelled by a bit of software.

Re:Privacy

[Anonymous Coward]

There will be identifying information stored. Never believe otherwise.

There is another issue

[SmallFurryCreature]

In Holland at least every single citizen is free tor receive any radio signal. If you transmit a signal, I am free to pick it up. There are no limits to this, it is perfectly legal for a citizen to pick up military or police traffic if they want. Decrypting it is another matter of course.

So, since these shoppers are transmitting radio signals they have given explicit permission for anyone else to receive those signals and do whatever they want with it. There is no privacy because the moment you started broadcasting you gave everyone permission to use that signal. Not my fault that signal is coming out of your pants.

To suddenly make it illegal to track a radio signal just because it is a phone and not a "proper" radio signal would require massive changes in the law. What next, I can't aim my attena at the TV broadcasting tower because that is invading its privacy?

So your claim that recording the radio signals is wrong is absolute and totally falls. This should be obvious to anybody with a brain, how can it possible be illegal to capture something passing through my person and property? By my very existence I am capturing radio waves all the time with my body and all my property. What next? You want to ban ordinary radio's from receiving certain bands on the FM spectrum? Make it illegal for my garage opener to respond to your clicker? How about the light from your car charging the solar cells in my garden?

If you don't want other people receiving and processing your radio signals, then you shouldn't be broadcasting them.

Want privacy? Turn your personal tracker off. There is an app for that.

Kill those who care

[Anonymous Coward]

Why not just label the people that care about privacy as terrorists... then the people that care about terrorists can be killed quickly and quietly, leaving the other people that are happy, loving the safety and security of their governing body. Isn't that the new form of freedom?

Re:this is probably in violation of EU privacy law

[symbolset]

That's cute. You think they care about laws. How quaint.

Re:Privacy

[Anonymous Coward]

When the information is so easily datamined and you have no idea who has an IMSI catcher or signal triangulation or whatnot, how can you even have this illusion of privacy? You will be tracked. The shop owners will never tell you.

Re:Privacy

[spacefight]

Exactly my words. If they can pinpoint and track you through the stores over their microcells, bluetooth or maybe even WLAN (if available), then they for sure will be able to pinpoint you down once you stop at the cashier at store X and link your anonymous avatar/id to your credit card and bamm, no longer anonymous. Then they'll see what you purchased. Then they sort out what you'll buy next or likely buy next and and and.... There is big money in this. Don't use your credit card and/or switch of the cell phone if you don't wanna be tracked. Better work against it.

Speak for yourself

[Viol8]

"turning off your mobile phone. But in this time and day, this solution seems akin to telling people to stop using email to 'opt out' from spam or to stop eating foods to 'opt out' of food poisoning."

Is it? I have an old style dumbphone which I hardly ever have switched on. Its mainly just for me to make outgoing calls. If someone needs to contact me they can try my landline at home or work or else send a text or leave a voicemail and I'll pick it up later. I didn't need to be contactable 24/7 20 years ago and I don't need to be now. Only a fool lets technology rule their life rather than just being a tool.