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Retail stores use Bluetooth beacons to track customers

nytimes.com

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Re: Retail stores use Bluetooth beacons to track customers

#81

Post by TecoAndJix »

TaylorAlexander wrote: post #44
legitster wrote: post #21

This is really big in the WiFi space. Aruba, Cisco, etc all market services to public places like malls where you throw in a huge public wifi network, and regardless of whether you connect or not, they can see phones looking for known network and track traffic patterns. Malls can then see which stores have highest foot traffic on what days, etc. It's actually one of the things that justifies the expense for huge, exp…

Well they automate the security camera analytics now too. I just saw this one recently: https://www.sentinelcv.com/

A lot of Verizon stores are owned by third-party companies. I had the chance to speak to one of the regional reps in a college class and he told me his company [1] does facial tracking of everyone who comes in the store. It also monitors employees and how many breaks they are taking/what they are doing (like hiding in the stock room).

[1]https://www.tccrocks.com/

Re: Retail stores use Bluetooth beacons to track customers

#82

Post by draw_down »

umvi wrote: post #77

What I don't get is: 1. Pretend it's the 1900s. Walk into a general store, shopkeeper sees you looking at ammo for 20 minutes and then leave without buying anything. Next time you walk in, he recognizes you and says he'll give you a discount on ammo if you buy in bulk. This is totally cool, not a violation of privacy, and both parties benefit. win/win 2. Use a computer to do the same exact thing automatically Rage, p…

Come on.

Re: Retail stores use Bluetooth beacons to track customers

#83

Post by 24bug47 »

andrewgioia wrote: post #24

This is rage inducing. I went into this article thinking "ok as long as I don't have the Target or Ikea or whatever app installed on my phone, I'm fine." While that is a primary way, this needs to be outlawed: > These companies take their beacon tracking code and bundle it into a toolkit developers can use. The makers of many popular apps, such as those for news or weather updates, insert these toolkits into their ap…

I find it interesting that the article doesn't mention how various agencies track you through bluetooth beacons when you drive down a road or walk around a city. These devices are in plain view for everyone to see, but for some reason it seems that most people don't see them and basically nobody ever talks about them, yet they are everywhere.

Re: Retail stores use Bluetooth beacons to track customers

#84

Post by eddiecalzone »

seieste wrote: post #30

The cynical part of me thinks this is the real reason to get rid of the headphone jack -- to make it inconvenient to turn off bluetooth.

A link from the article shows that turning off Bluetooth in Android is as futile as it is in iOS: https://qz.com/1169760/phone-data/

If you don't want to be tracked, you can either turn off your phone or put it in a protective sleeve when not in use: https://silent-pocket.com/products/faraday-cage-sleeves-for-...

Re: Retail stores use Bluetooth beacons to track customers

#85

Post by Kenji »

umvi wrote: post #77

What I don't get is: 1. Pretend it's the 1900s. Walk into a general store, shopkeeper sees you looking at ammo for 20 minutes and then leave without buying anything. Next time you walk in, he recognizes you and says he'll give you a discount on ammo if you buy in bulk. This is totally cool, not a violation of privacy, and both parties benefit. win/win 2. Use a computer to do the same exact thing automatically Rage, p…

It's rage-inducing because the 1900 shop keeper doesn't keep a book about you specifically, notes down your presence to the last second, follows you home or into other establishments, etc. Also his memory is not accurate and no tangible proof (it's just his word after all), so nobody can download his memory if they want to spy on you for whatever reason (dissident, whistleblower, etc.)

Re: Retail stores use Bluetooth beacons to track customers

#87

Post by samdixon »

umvi wrote: post #77

What I don't get is: 1. Pretend it's the 1900s. Walk into a general store, shopkeeper sees you looking at ammo for 20 minutes and then leave without buying anything. Next time you walk in, he recognizes you and says he'll give you a discount on ammo if you buy in bulk. This is totally cool, not a violation of privacy, and both parties benefit. win/win 2. Use a computer to do the same exact thing automatically Rage, p…

Human, local, and friendly interaction vs mega corporation using a profile they built without asking that has pulled as much information on you as possible while simultaneously using algorithms trying to determine how to get you to buy as much stuff as possible and pushing advertisements right to your phone.

Re: Retail stores use Bluetooth beacons to track customers

#88

Post by pixelrevision »

andrewgioia wrote: post #24

This is rage inducing. I went into this article thinking "ok as long as I don't have the Target or Ikea or whatever app installed on my phone, I'm fine." While that is a primary way, this needs to be outlawed: > These companies take their beacon tracking code and bundle it into a toolkit developers can use. The makers of many popular apps, such as those for news or weather updates, insert these toolkits into their ap…

They could have the whole thing be opt in as opposed to opt out. If you want to find the drills at your home depo then opt in via the app otherwise could be ignored. This would at least give people visibility in the same way location services, contacts and push notifications do.

Re: Retail stores use Bluetooth beacons to track customers

#89

Post by _bxg1 »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #70
_bxg1 wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just disable background activity for all apps that you don't fully trust. For me, that pretty much means like four first-party Apple apps that actually reasonably need it.

That's a good personal workaround, but it's not a solution to a problem - much like moving to a different city doesn't solve the problem of the manufacturing plant poisoning the water supply of the city you live in. Adtech industry needs to be torched. GDPR was a step in the right direction, but unfortunately isn't nearly enough (I'd start with more aggressive enforcement of it, though). Something to pressure your po…

Another personal workaround - which I just realized must exist and apparently does - is a Faraday phone case...

https://silent-pocket.com/collections/all-products

Re: Retail stores use Bluetooth beacons to track customers

#90

Post by Despegar »

andrewgioia wrote: post #24

This is rage inducing. I went into this article thinking "ok as long as I don't have the Target or Ikea or whatever app installed on my phone, I'm fine." While that is a primary way, this needs to be outlawed: > These companies take their beacon tracking code and bundle it into a toolkit developers can use. The makers of many popular apps, such as those for news or weather updates, insert these toolkits into their ap…

iOS 13 makes apps ask permission to use Bluetooth, so at the very least it's going to massively cut down on passive data collection.

They've already banned these SDKs in the kids category. I'm sure the next step is to ban them everywhere.

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