{"id":2132,"date":"2013-11-12T17:55:59","date_gmt":"2013-11-12T17:55:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ncjolt.org\/?p=2132"},"modified":"2020-06-04T20:53:58","modified_gmt":"2020-06-04T20:53:58","slug":"one-more-thing-coming-this-holiday-shopping-season-notice-and-consent-and-the-option-to-opt-out-from-mobile-location-behavioral-tracking-by-retailers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/blogs\/one-more-thing-coming-this-holiday-shopping-season-notice-and-consent-and-the-option-to-opt-out-from-mobile-location-behavioral-tracking-by-retailers\/","title":{"rendered":"One More Thing Coming This Holiday Shopping Season: Notice and Consent and the Option to Opt-Out from Mobile Location Behavioral Tracking by Retailers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tuesday, November 12, 2013, by Daniel Parisi
\nTechnology continues to advance at an incredible pace.\u00a0 Did you know that a growing number of retailers are using the WiFi and Bluetooth signals from the cellphone in your pocket to track your shopping habits<\/a> and your movements throughout their stores?\u00a0\u00a0 The latest technology is accurate to within a few feet<\/a>.\u00a0 How long do you spend in a particular aisle looking at what particular products?\u00a0 When and how frequently do you return to a particular store?\u00a0 Until now, this practice of tracking customers and collecting data on them has often been done without any notice or consent<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Did you know that a growing number of retailers are using the WiFi and Bluetooth signals from the cellphone in your pocket to track your shopping habits and your movements throughout their stores?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

How does the technology work?\u00a0 Every cellphone has a unique \u201cMAC\u201d address or network identification number.\u00a0 Your WiFi and Bluetooth services on your cellphone constantly broadcast themselves<\/a> to other devices, as you move around in the world, including broadcasting themselves to devices owned by the store.\u00a0 Your WiFi and Bluetooth services are simply looking for available networks to connect to.\u00a0 But retailers have turned this functionality into a behavioral tracking mechanism<\/a>.\u00a0 Even if you don\u2019t connect to the store\u2019s devices, your exact location to within a few feet is repetitively broadcast to the store and is uniquely identifiable by your cellphone\u2019s network identification number.\u00a0 The information is collected by retailers and mobile location analytics companies (\u201cMLACs\u201d)<\/a>. \u00a0\u00a0The MLACs can then combine the data with data from other sources and offer that information for sale.
\nSenator Chuck Schumer of New York<\/a> has identified the problem.\u00a0 \u201cCell phone tracking is intrusive and unsettling – it\u2019s as if you are being followed around while shopping at the mall, with someone looking over your shoulder at every product you are considering. . . . Personal cell phones are just that – personal.\u00a0 They shouldn\u2019t be used as some James Bond-like tracking device without the shopper\u2019s knowledge.\u201d
\nThe United States has well-established core principles for fair information practices.\u00a0 The Federal Trade Commission (\u201cFTC\u201d) calls these principles the FIPPs<\/a>, which is short for the fair information practice principles.\u00a0 The two most fundamental principles are the requirements of notice and consent.\u00a0 Additionally, the FTC has the authority to take enforcement actions against \u201cunfair or deceptive\u201d business practices<\/a>.\u00a0 The FTC has taken an active role in the mobile technology space and has provided specific recommendations<\/a> regarding privacy and mobile technologies.
\nJust in time for the holiday shopping season, on October 22, 2013, Senator Schumer and the mobile location analytics industry announced<\/a> a new code of conduct<\/a> and a self-regulatory regime, which will offer customers notice of data collection and the option to opt-out<\/a> of data collection.\u00a0 However, it is unknown when the central opt-out website<\/a> will be available.\u00a0 Also, as of now, only some MLACs, but no retailers<\/a>, are known to have signed onto to the code of conduct.\u00a0 But keep your eyes open this holiday shopping season for notices and instructions on opting-out posted in store windows.\u00a0 Alternatively, you can turn your WiFi and Bluetooth functionality off before going shopping or you can leave your cellphone at home.\u00a0 Happy Holidays!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tuesday, November 12, 2013, by Daniel Parisi Technology continues to advance at an incredible pace.\u00a0 Did you know that a growing number of retailers are using the WiFi and Bluetooth signals from the cellphone in your pocket to track your shopping habits and your movements throughout their stores?\u00a0\u00a0 The latest technology is accurate to within …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[51],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2132"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2132"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2132\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7542,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2132\/revisions\/7542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}