OFF THE WIRE
THE ONLY WAY NOT TO BE TRACKED
IS TOOO TAKE OUT THE BATTERY,YOUR PHONE IS STILL ON IF TURNED OFF...
North County Times
Oceanside resident Dwight Adams talks on his cellphone before he enters The Promenade mall in Temecula on Wednesday. The mall is using cellphone tracking technology to determine how people are moving about the mall during the holiday shopping season. DON BOOMER | dboomer@californian.com
"It's just a ping," said Kym Espinosa, marketing director for The Promenade. "It shows us how a customer is moving around the center. It doesn't tell us what movie they saw or if they had a fight with their girlfriend that afternoon."
The "ping" she's talking about is the dot that pops up on a map after the system identifies a cellphone signal. That ping, she assured, does not give the mall any information about the person who is holding the phone.
The Promenade is one of two malls owned by Forest City Enterprises, Ohio-based owner of 25 shopping centers, that is testing the system this year. The other mall is in Virginia.
Rationale
Espinosa said the data is useful for management in a number of ways.
During special events ---- the farmers market or the visit by Santa, for instance ---- the mall can find out how long people are staying and where they are going before and after the event.
By analyzing that information, the mall can then decide which events to keep supporting and which to replace, she said.
The mall also will use the information to help set staffing levels. If there is a rush of people visiting the food court during a certain time of the day, for instance, the mall can make sure it has enough custodians on hand to empty trash cans and clean the bathrooms.
The mall has been using the system since Nov. 12, notifying shoppers via message stickers on the mall's kiosks. That test run allowed the tech team to calibrate the system and prepare it for the expected holiday crowds.
If the system works as planned, Espinosa said, the mall will have a wealth of data that it can use to help improve the mix of retailers at the mall and to use in its marketing pitches to high-end shops and restaurants.
Although she said there hasn't been a large outcry about the installation of the system, Espinosa said she has talked to people who have questions, including one woman who was "very concerned."
During those conversations, she said she has tried to explain that malls have been tracking people for years, employing people to follow shoppers around and using cameras to identify traffic bottlenecks and other sorts of traffic-flow issues.
This system, she said, is just a more sophisticated version of those methods, similar to the traffic counters that cities use to monitor traffic flow and adjust streetlights.
"We're not doing espionage here," she said.
Reaction
Paul Shaw, a Lake Elsinore resident visiting the mall Wednesday, said he didn't have any problem in theory with the mall tracking him via his cellphone signal.
But he added a caveat.
"If it doesn't affect us," he said. "If it ends up being used for some CIA stuff, I don't like that."
Another shopper, John Baptista, said the technology sounds less invasive than the monitoring that is already being conducted by the government in certain instances, which includes accessing satellite data, phone tapping and the like.
"There's too much," he said. "There's always someone looking over your shoulder."
With the mall's system, Baptista said, there's always the option of just turning off your phone.
To address concerns about the system, FootPath officials have said that the data gathered by its sensors is scrambled twice to keep the phone's unique identification numbers secure.
Steve Campanella, a Temecula resident, wasn't impressed.
He said that numerous organizations have seen their data hacked and stolen. And he wasn't convinced FootPath could devise a system that would prove unbreachable.
"There's no security," he said.
On the larger issue of the mall employing the system, Campanella said it didn't make any difference as to whether he would shop there, but he said it's a slippery slope that could lead to escalating levels of surveillance on both public and private land.
During a phone interview, Joan McNabb, chief of the state's Office of Privacy Protection, said the mall's system falls into a murky privacy area.
"The laws in general are not keeping up with technology developments," she said.
McNabb said she was aware of the existence of these kinds of systems, but she didn't know that they were being used this holiday season.
The state, she said, generally considers location data to be sensitive information, but it doesn't rise to the level of sensitivity of information such as Social Security numbers.
There also have been some recent developments concerning the privacy, or lack thereof, of Internet protocol addresses, which muddies the issue even more because those addresses are akin to a phone's identification signature, she said.
Offering advice for people worried about the system, McNabb said they should contact the mall's owners or their elected representatives.
"It's not clear if it's a true legal issue, but I'm not sure it isn't," she said.
And then there was Maria Trevino, who was blissfully unconcerned about the tracking system.
"I don't have a phone," said the San Diego resident, holding a small clutch in the hand where many others might have held a cellphone.
Read more: http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/temecula/temecula-mall-tracking-cellphone-users-during-holiday-season/article_cb634064-b628-59b2-9d18-73e4ec789250.html#ixzz1epm6FCy3
COMMENT`S
1. If the FootPath technology is completely passive, there is no FCC licensing issue. If, however, the footpath system transmits blips to elicit cellphone pings, there may be a huge FCC licensing problem and the Promenade may be liable for unlicensed operation.
The system as described can be used for many purposes; it could, for example, be used to identify the cellphone carried by the crook who just robbed the jewelry store.
Here is a quasi-related story from L.A. that will warm the hearts of many:
http://tinyurl.com/FindMePhone 2.
Another day, another round of dodging the questions. So, they say: "To address concerns about the system, FootPath officials have said that the data gathered by its sensors is scrambled twice to keep the phone's unique identification numbers secure." So, the question is: Why are they even collecting your ESN or MEID? That is a unique identifer that can be traced back to your phone. The "ping" on their screen would show the ESN and identify you. How else would they know where you're going? They'll have to track ESNs to find out where you went and for how long. Don't buy into their idea of watching "migrating birds on a screen" nonsense. Your data is being collected and they'll gladly sugarcoat it any way to get it.
The Promenade mall in Temecula is using cellphone tracking techology to monitor the movement of folks in and around the shopping center during the holiday season.
The decision to employ the system, called FootPath Technology, has some residents concerned about privacy issues. The mall's management said Wednesday the system is completely anonymous, and those worried about their location data being collected can opt out by turning off their phones."It's just a ping," said Kym Espinosa, marketing director for The Promenade. "It shows us how a customer is moving around the center. It doesn't tell us what movie they saw or if they had a fight with their girlfriend that afternoon."
The "ping" she's talking about is the dot that pops up on a map after the system identifies a cellphone signal. That ping, she assured, does not give the mall any information about the person who is holding the phone.
The Promenade is one of two malls owned by Forest City Enterprises, Ohio-based owner of 25 shopping centers, that is testing the system this year. The other mall is in Virginia.
Rationale
Espinosa said the data is useful for management in a number of ways.
During special events ---- the farmers market or the visit by Santa, for instance ---- the mall can find out how long people are staying and where they are going before and after the event.
By analyzing that information, the mall can then decide which events to keep supporting and which to replace, she said.
The mall also will use the information to help set staffing levels. If there is a rush of people visiting the food court during a certain time of the day, for instance, the mall can make sure it has enough custodians on hand to empty trash cans and clean the bathrooms.
The mall has been using the system since Nov. 12, notifying shoppers via message stickers on the mall's kiosks. That test run allowed the tech team to calibrate the system and prepare it for the expected holiday crowds.
If the system works as planned, Espinosa said, the mall will have a wealth of data that it can use to help improve the mix of retailers at the mall and to use in its marketing pitches to high-end shops and restaurants.
Although she said there hasn't been a large outcry about the installation of the system, Espinosa said she has talked to people who have questions, including one woman who was "very concerned."
During those conversations, she said she has tried to explain that malls have been tracking people for years, employing people to follow shoppers around and using cameras to identify traffic bottlenecks and other sorts of traffic-flow issues.
This system, she said, is just a more sophisticated version of those methods, similar to the traffic counters that cities use to monitor traffic flow and adjust streetlights.
"We're not doing espionage here," she said.
Reaction
Paul Shaw, a Lake Elsinore resident visiting the mall Wednesday, said he didn't have any problem in theory with the mall tracking him via his cellphone signal.
But he added a caveat.
"If it doesn't affect us," he said. "If it ends up being used for some CIA stuff, I don't like that."
Another shopper, John Baptista, said the technology sounds less invasive than the monitoring that is already being conducted by the government in certain instances, which includes accessing satellite data, phone tapping and the like.
"There's too much," he said. "There's always someone looking over your shoulder."
With the mall's system, Baptista said, there's always the option of just turning off your phone.
To address concerns about the system, FootPath officials have said that the data gathered by its sensors is scrambled twice to keep the phone's unique identification numbers secure.
Steve Campanella, a Temecula resident, wasn't impressed.
He said that numerous organizations have seen their data hacked and stolen. And he wasn't convinced FootPath could devise a system that would prove unbreachable.
"There's no security," he said.
On the larger issue of the mall employing the system, Campanella said it didn't make any difference as to whether he would shop there, but he said it's a slippery slope that could lead to escalating levels of surveillance on both public and private land.
During a phone interview, Joan McNabb, chief of the state's Office of Privacy Protection, said the mall's system falls into a murky privacy area.
"The laws in general are not keeping up with technology developments," she said.
McNabb said she was aware of the existence of these kinds of systems, but she didn't know that they were being used this holiday season.
The state, she said, generally considers location data to be sensitive information, but it doesn't rise to the level of sensitivity of information such as Social Security numbers.
There also have been some recent developments concerning the privacy, or lack thereof, of Internet protocol addresses, which muddies the issue even more because those addresses are akin to a phone's identification signature, she said.
Offering advice for people worried about the system, McNabb said they should contact the mall's owners or their elected representatives.
"It's not clear if it's a true legal issue, but I'm not sure it isn't," she said.
And then there was Maria Trevino, who was blissfully unconcerned about the tracking system.
"I don't have a phone," said the San Diego resident, holding a small clutch in the hand where many others might have held a cellphone.
Read more: http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/temecula/temecula-mall-tracking-cellphone-users-during-holiday-season/article_cb634064-b628-59b2-9d18-73e4ec789250.html#ixzz1epm6FCy3
COMMENT`S
The system as described can be used for many purposes; it could, for example, be used to identify the cellphone carried by the crook who just robbed the jewelry store.
Here is a quasi-related story from L.A. that will warm the hearts of many:
http://tinyurl.com/FindMePhone