Malls Track Shoppers' Cell Phones On Black Friday

[DamianTV]

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/11/23/2023223/malls-track-shoppers-cell-phones-on-black-friday


"The management company of both malls, Forest City Commercial Management, says personal data is not being tracked. 'We won't be looking at singular shoppers,' said Stephanie Shriver-Engdahl, vice president of digital strategy for Forest City. 'The system monitors patterns of movement. We can see, like migrating birds, where people are going to.' Still, the company is preemptively notifying customers by hanging small signs around the shopping centers. Consumers can opt out by turning off their phones."

Do these assholes even get the idea of "Not Without My Permission"?

[moostraks]

ERgh!!! The fact that somebody owns a product for a particular purpose should not then open them up to invasive surveillance. So they should turn their phones off? That is ridiculous, but of course its a private company(the mall) so they have all rights to do as they please to invade ones person and use an item purchased by another for a specific purpose and use it for their own needs. :rolleyes: This should be a form of theft imo. They are not allowed to pilfer through my pocketbook and use any other items and yet they can piggyback on a private phone for marketing purposes??? wth?

[phill4paul]

Solution: Buy from local/small businesses. Or skip the whole fiasco and make your Holiday's less commercial and more personal.

[moostraks]

Solution: Buy from local/small businesses. Or skip the whole fiasco and make your Holiday's less commercial and more personal.

true...but it would be nice if the legal system would recognize this for what it is-theft and put a kibosh to it. Instead this will become another insidious trend which we tolerate for the sake of convenience.

[acptulsa]

'Customers can opt out by turning off their phones.' How sweet of you to give people a way to do something more proactive than to trust you don't and won't use the data for other purposes than 'tracking' the herd's migrations. But what the lady does not say, but should know, is that customers can opt out by boycotting the damned place, too.

[LibForestPaul]

I like it. The mall owner posts what they are doing. It allows them to monitor floor space and charge merchants appropriately. Not gov mandated (yet)... Multiple options to opt out. The way it should be.

[VBRonPaulFan]

this is why
a) i don't own a smartform that allows this type of shit and
b) i don't have internet on my phone

edit: hmm, mentions tracking the phone signals. i'd assume it probably only picks up on phones looking for 3g type connections but if it picks up any wireless signal that is pretty absurd.