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Retail Stores Plan Elaborate Ways To Track You
Velcroman1 writes "Retailers are experimenting with a variety of new ways to track you, so that when you pick up a shirt, you might get a message about the matching shorts. Or pick up golf shoes at a sports store and you see a discount for a new set of clubs. New technologies like magnetic field detection, Bluetooth Low Energy, sonic pulses, and even transmissions from the in-store lights can tell when you enter a store, where you go, and how you shop. Just last year, tracking was only accurate within 100 feet. Starting this year, they can track within a few feet. ByteLight makes the lighting tech, which transmits a unique signal that the camera in your phone can read. The store can then track your location within about 3 feet — and it's already in use at the Museum of Science in Boston."
...leave Bluetooth turned on? Seems like a pointless way to run your battery down...
"Are you looking for something in particular, sir . . . ?"
"Yeah, you got any tinfoil clothes . . . ?"
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
I find it unlikely that the Salvation army or Value Village would bother with this technology, let alone actually be able to offer clothes that match.
Just sayin....
Sounds like that movie, Minority Report, when Tom Cruise went into that store with his new eyes and the hologram asked him "How are those Dockers working out for you?
Understanding the scope of the problem is the first step on the path to true panic.
Yay, more hype and wank trying to whip up the /. crowd into a frenzy.
According to TFA (yeah, I read it, suck me) all the things listed here are features of a store-wide network that interfaces with an app on your smartphone. Yes, that's right, you have to manually add an app to your phone for these establishments in order for any of this 'tracking' to work. An app whose primary function is delivering ads and coupons to you.
Seriously, aren't things already bad enough with the whole NSA thing? Is fear mongering and just plain making shit up really necessary?
[captcha: congress]
If they can't do their job properly to begin with--stocking the shelves with what people want--then what makes you think that tracking you will change anything? They are supposed to keep track of inventory, and if they just don't carry something, then that kind of is up to the customer to either look elsewhere or ask a manager if they can get it in. Automatic tracking will not solve anything... all it will do is violate your privacy even further. But hey, it's not like they don't have dozens or even hundreds of cameras spread all throughout their perimeter, both inside and out, spying on you. What's a bit more going to hurt, other than your own battery power in this case?
Shopping will be an event to put on facial makeup. Black lines for beneath the eyes and above the eyebrows (I think a tube of black lipstick will do nicely).
Why inconvenience yourself by leaving your phone at home, when you can just avoid those store that use this tech?
If I get a text message when I walk into a store I will never set foot in that store again. There are plenty of on-line
shops that sell the same thing. I don't like busybody sales clerks hovering over my shoulder while I shop and I sure
as hell don't expect to put up with some computer doing the same thing.
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
Based on what little info is on ByteLight's website - wouldn't you, as a customer, have to be running the store's app on your phone for this tracking to work? If so, just don't run the software.
The other tracking method they listed was wi-fi fingerprinting. Annoying, but not very accurate - and you can completely defeat it just by turning wi-fi off, I assume (something I usually do anyway).
That said, I'd still complain loudly to the management of any store I shop at if I found they were using the technology.
#DeleteChrome
And moreover, I assume you must install an app that use that signal. Except if there is a collusion between retail sotres and mobile vendors/operators.
The summary is incorrect. The story is about retailers tracking customers who are running the retailer's app while shopping in the store so they can suggest related items. The article even leads off with a ridiculous photo of someone holding an iPad mini and looking at a listing for the item on the shelf. When was the last time you saw someone walking around a store with an iPad in their hand?
In theory, if you're downloading the retailer's app and using it in their store on your phone, you are looking for "something extra" from the retailer. What they're talking about here is the app acting as a salesperson, noting where you are in the store and possibly what you might be looking at to suggest items you might want. It's a gimmick, though. The app may know where you are within a few feet, but it doesn't know what item you have in your hand, so it can't properly suggest products based on what you're about to buy while you're still in the store. All it can do is say "I see you're by the polo shirt table... want two of these? We'll give you a coupon for two for $20." This is no more effective than putting a dead tree sign on the table that says "polo shirts: 2 for $20." Dead trees are cheaper, and everyone can see them, resulting in more sales than limiting your promotion to the <1% of customers who are walking through your store running your app and paying attention to it.
The way to make it somewhat more effective would be to tie it into what safeway is doing, where they keep track of everything you buy with your Safeway card and the highest prices you've historically been willing to pay for those items. Then they offer you a discount based on what they know your threshold is... and they offer the person 10 feet away from you a deeper discount on the same item because they see that she only buys the item when it's below a certain price. That systematic price discrimination is the greater concern, but the article doesn't mention that because the author doesn't get it.
It's kind of heavy and won't work anyway when it's not plugged into the wall.
Outlaw the practice as an invasion of privacy or DMCA violation?
Pass opt in laws?
Demand phones that won't reveal any personal information?
Apps that sense attempt and block them, or spoof random mac addresses?
Personal jammers?
Shop online?
Picket the store?
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
The submitter, Velcroman1, has submitted hundreds of stories since October 2009, all of which link to Foxnews.com, but only five comments in the last two years... just one this year so far.
Even more interesting is that stories submitted by MarkWhittington come up on Velcroman1's slashdot page as if they were Velcroman1's submissions... If you look at MarkWhittington's slashdot page, all of his submissions link to his own articles or opinion pieces on voices.yahoo.com or examiner.com. ALL of them. And also no comments. MarkWhittington apparently contributes his own content to these sites as a freelancer and submits them to slashdot to drive traffic.
On page 2 of Velcroman1's slashdot profile Nerval's Lobster (nkolakowski@slashdotmedia.com, nkolakowski@geek.net) submissions start to show up. We've already established that Nerval's Lobster is Nick Kolakowski, a slashdot employee submitting paid content as user-submitted stories...
It would be interesting to see what percentage of published slashdot stories are genuinely submitted by people who have no financial interest in the submission.
This is what Shopkick is. The users earn points called "kicks" for entering the participating stores. One app, many stores.
It's certainly not my cup of tea, but there are lots of people who voluntarily install these kinds of apps, especially when they get free stuff for doing so.
John
How about this scenario.
You've browsed a store online. Added something to your cart but didn't buy. Now you are at the store and you get a message that the item you were looking at is available with a 15% discount.
Another: you go to a store and look at stuff then leave. Later at home you see an email with a discount code for that item at the online store.
The goal isn't to track you. The goal is to sell you something and keep you from buying it on Amazon from a grey market middle man who got ahold of a lot of merchandise from a wholesaler who dumped it for a small margin.
A fool throws a stone into a well and a thousand sages can not remove it.
How about ratings and reviews for products? DIY projects for tools at the home improvement store? Fashion tips? Behind the scenes making of info? Get Satisfaction links? Instruction manuals?
This could be useful.
A fool throws a stone into a well and a thousand sages can not remove it.