London Bans Recycling Bins That Track Phones

judgecorp writes "In a swift response to a media storm, the City of London has closed down a trial of recycling bins which track the phones of pedestrians. Renew provides recycling bins funded by digital advertising, and has been told to stop a trial where bins tracked phones. Although the CEO of Renew claims there was no intention to breach privacy, his own marketing material says otherwise."

Comments

This is why...

[gstoddart]

This is why I keep wi-fi disabled on my mobile devices unless I need it.

I've found I don't particularly want my device to be phoning home to people when I'm not looking, and I've also found leaving wi-fi on absolutely impacts my battery life.

Stuff like this is only going to get worse as various advertisers decide they're entitled to more information than we're willing to give them.

Re:This is why...

[Anonymous Coward]

This is why I keep wi-fi disabled on my mobile devices unless I need it.

That's odd. My phone doesn't send out probes. Like most phones it listens for beacons and connects to those I've told it to. It's possible on some phones to tell it to probe, but that's a bad idea for many reasons.

Re:Removing bins will not fix underlying problem

[Anonymous Coward]

And there is no reason a MAC address should not randomize itself in between network connections.

Re:Removing bins will not fix underlying problem

[mspohr]

There is something I don't understand here.
If I have my WiFi turned on and it is set to automatically connect to "known" access points but not set to connect to random unknown access points, why would it broadcast my MAC?
I can understand that it will listen for a "known" access point and when it finds one, send the MAC to connect and that is fine.
However, why would it broadcast my MAC if it has no intention of connecting?