Shopping Centers Track Customers Via Cell Phone Signals

oschobero writes "According an article from the Times, customers in shopping centers are having their every move tracked. Using cellphone signals, the system can tell when people enter the center, how long they stay in a particular shop, and what route each customer takes. The system works by monitoring the signals produced by mobile handsets and then locating the phone by triangulation." The particular tracking device described by the article is made by an English company called Path Intelligence.

It Does Run Linux!

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus (1223518)]

Seriously, The Path Intelligence guys use, or at least got started using, the GNU Radio platform(which, incidentally, is really really cool and you ought to check out). http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2006/06/70933?currentPage=2 [wired.com] http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6124/1637/1600/path_intelligence.jpg [blogger.com] http://handcircus.blogspot.com/2006/06/my-brother-in-wired.html [blogspot.com]

Re:

[arodland (127775)]

In fact I think it was first mentioned on slashdot as an example of how cool GNURadio was. :)

Re:

[QX-Mat (460729)]

first thing I thought... back then I thought WOW innovation, the hardware DMCA does suck.

and I still do! it's a great piece of tech.

If you don't want to be tracked in public, stop emitting a signal.

Matt

Hello John Anderton

[nacturation (646836)]

Now all we need is retinal/facial recognition and we'll have the perfectly offensive onslaught of advertisements available to us.

How did you like the last ad greeting you by name, John Anderton?
 

Re:

[Z00L00K (682162)]

Just consider that this is a possible privacy violation.

What can be worse is if the cash register matches your phone with your purchase and re-uses that next time you approaches the shop which can make them to play an ad on a screen "Special Offer to Mr. Jones; 10-pack of Strawberry taste condoms" when you approach that store with a wife/girlfriend allergic to latex.

Re:

[vux984 (928602)]

If marketers can figure out how to get the right message across to the right people at the right time, its pretty much a win-win for everyone.

I would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

As a marketer of profoundly useless products, that generally barely work, and are universally of low quality, I would like to know which people are the biggest suckers and what time they are most vulnerable to making a purchase of one of my many products.

I make items such as tiger wards, rocks with googly eyes, q-ray bracel

Re:

[Binkleyz (175773)]

And do you seriously believe that they won't try to correlate the characteristics of your phone to the person carrying it? Really?

I'm not a cell phone tech (or even play one on tv), but I'm pretty sure that your phone # or at least the SIM# (or whatever the equivalent is for CDMA) is among the information being broadcast willy-nilly by the nice little radio in your pocket. It doesn't really take much for me to believe that the vendors in the mall will aggregate the cell phone info with their sales and com

Unauthorized signal reception

[Waffle Iron (339739)]

Aren't there laws on the books with serious penalties for unauthorized reception of private radio signals? Why shouldn't the mall owners be busted for this snooping just like they would if they were hacking DirecTV signals?

Re:

[spazdor (902907)]

There might be a legal distinction between decoding enough data to snoop on a call, and simply decoding enough data to distinguish one unique signal source from another.

yes there are

[by Anonymous Coward]

Under Section 5(1)(b) of the WT Act 1949 it is an offence if a person "otherwise than under the authority of a designated person, either:(i) uses any wireless telegraphy apparatus with intent to obtain information as to the contents, sender or addressee of any message whether sent by means of wireless telegraphy or not, of which neither the person using the apparatus nor a person on whose behalf he is acting is an intended recipient;


This means that it is illegal to listen to anything other than general reception transmissions unless you are either a licensed user of the frequencies in question or have been specifically authorized to do so by a designated person. A designated person means:

                        the Secretary of State;

                        the Commissioners of Customs and Excise; or

                        any other person designated for the purpose by regulations made by the Secretary of State.

Or:

(ii) except in the course of legal proceedings or for the purpose of any report thereof, discloses any information as to the contents, sender or addressee of any such message, being information which would not have come to his knowledge but for the use of wireless telegraphy apparatus by him or by another person."

  This means that it is also illegal to tell a third party what you have heard.

With certain exceptions, it is an offence under Section 1 of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 for a person - "intentionally and without lawful authority to intercept, at any place in the United Kingdom, any communication in the course of its transmission by means of:

                        a public postal service; or
                        a public telecommunication system."

It is similarly an offence to intercept any communication in the course of its transmission by means of a private telecommunication system.

According to Ofcom, scanners and monitoring radios can be legally sold, bought and used in the United Kingdom, without the need to obtain a license, provided they only receive radio services meant for general reception by the public. In the UK such services include Citizens' Band, Amateur, licensed broadcast radio, weather and navigation broadcasts.

It is only illegal to use scanners to listen to licensed private services such as the police and taxi radio transmissions and other prohibited or private broadcasts not intended for the public. Listening in on such broadcasts is an offence under Section 5(1) (b) of the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949.

In order to help the public understand what it can and cannot listen to, Ofcom publishes a Radio Authority information sheet titled RA-169.

Anyone who intends to listen to radio transmissions should be aware of the following, it warns: A license is not required for a radio receiver as long as it is not capable of transmission according to The Wireless Telegraphy Apparatus (Receivers) (Exemption) Regulations 1989 (SI 1989 No 123). An exception to this is that it is an offense to listen to unlicensed broadcasters (pirate broadcasts) without a license and licenses are not issued for that purpose.

Although it is not illegal to sell, buy or own a scanning or other receiver in the UK, it must only be used to listen to transmissions meant for general reception - Amateur and Citizens' Band transmissions, licensed broadcast radio and weather and navigation broadcasts. It is an offence to use your scanner to listen to any other radio services unless you are authorized by a designated person to do so.

So possession of the equipment is allowed so long as it is not used to listen to prohibited communications in the UK.

http://www.monitoringtimes.com/html/mtlaws_may04.html [monitoringtimes.com]

Re:

[SoopahMan (706062)]

I'm not a lawyer and I suspect you aren't either, but the important part of the law here is this:

"intent to obtain information as to the contents, sender or addressee of any message"

If all they're doing is watching cellphones walk by and notice that there's a signal moving along this vector, triggering antennae bit by bit as they pass, and another moving along another vector, then they're certainly steering clear of this law.

But if they're reading the contents of the signal, they're probably violating it. H

Re:Unauthorized signal reception

[mikael (484)]

They intercept the IMEI number of the cell phone; the serial number of the hardware, not your personal telephone number. You could change the telephone number simply by unlocking the phone and inserting a new SIM card. But the IMEI never changes unless you got a new phone.

Like cable broadband networks, the actual data transferred for calls is encrypted, but the IMEI is not.

Re:

[Martin Blank (154261)]

It's been illegal to snoop on cell phone calls since 1986, and law enforcement does require permission from a judge to tap your cell phone.

And to my knowledge, digital cell phone calls are encrypted. Since there is very little of the analog network remaining, that means that essentially all of them are encrypted. It may not be the best, but it is encrypted.

warning sigs at doors

[brenddie (897982)]

If the mall is going to use my equipment for their benefit, I should be warned before entering the premises. I see no mention on TFA about the mall warning its customers about the tracking system , besides looking for the antennas on the walls but those can easily be concealed. Maybe someone can come up with a device that changes IMEIs on the fly creating one man stampedes/mobs

Re:warning sigs at doors

[Irish_Samurai (224931)]

They aren't using your hardware, they are observing the public signal that your hardware is sending to the towers outside the mall.

Re:

[kesuki (321456)]

But the signal isn't public. The frequency is privately owned by the cell companies.

The frequency is Leased, not owned. but thats not the only thing wrong, the signal they are 'receiving' is 'sent in the clear' eg: devices that listen for that signal are not illegal, there does come some question on if they can 'sell' the data collected, or even use it practically...

but there is nothing illegal about receiving the signal. if you have a problem with it, bring it up with your cell phone company for transmitting the Id of your phone in the clear, so anyone can tell who's phone is sending a

Re:

[Yocto Yotta (840665)]

IMEIs are serial numbers that the networks use to make sure your calls go to your phone . . . unless you want to carry around a useless radio emitting brick for absolutely no reason BUT to fuck with the company, changing IMEIs would be a bad idea. There's a lot of work that's gone into preventing that from happening, the fraud possibilities would be endless if the serial number of a handset could be easily changed. I'm not saying the can't be changed, there's a huge grey market around that very practice, b

So vague...

[oskard (715652)]

customers in shopping centers are having their every move tracked.

Which customers? Which shopping centers? ALL OF THEM? Am I being tracked?

Put on your tin-foil hats everyone!

People WANT this stuff, they just don't know it

[religious freak (1005821)]

Whenever I read big-brother type stuff like this, I'm reminded of one of the best lectures I received regarding the direction of IT (and this was years ago)

In speaking about GIS he outlined some items that seemed very spooky and seemingly improbable things that would happen - then he discussed the results of those things occurring as if they were a given. I was skeptical that they'd even happen, but they are beginning to... stuff like this article mentions, how it will be very close to impossible to travel without a cell phone, and how that would essentially mark you (not in the crazy 666 sense) for all kinds of crap people want to sell to you.

At the end, his point was that these types of things will be reviled in name only, but once people receive the benefits of the technology, they'll love it. We're headed down this path whether we like it or not; privacy will become a very relative thing in the next couple decades. We will need to rely exclusively on the good faith of the companies that guard our information.

How does this work?

[imrtt (1287370)]

This is pretty cool. The website claims accuracy of 1-2 meters. If they indeed use triangulation, their equipment has to be able to measure time down to ~1/300 millionth of a second. BTW, chances are that tracking is anonymous. I don't believe phones transmit phone numbers or other private information unencrypted.

Since this article is about cell phone tracking, I thought I would mention a free GPS tracking service that we recently launched. It's called InstaMapper. There is a DIY that explains how to track a car in real-time using a $40 prepaid cell phone:

http://www.instamapper.com/diytracking.html [instamapper.com]

public pranks possible

[timothy (36799)]

Lots of fun things you can imagine doing with this :)

Gather as many cellphones as possible (from cooperating friends etc). Put them all in a small basket.

Have them visit for a while in ... the dressing room at Victoria's Secret / Stall 3 in the bathroom at Baskin Robbins / the service elevator in any place you can find with a service elevator.

Or just have people do a lot of trading, so person A keeps visiting place 3, over and over and over. (Also works with grocery loyalty oath cards.)

Have a massive "appearance" / "disappearance" fest. Hey! 50 people just appeared inside Best Buy! No ... no, wait, they didn't. Errr ... 50 people just appeared spaced in a grid around the parking lot! No, they've disappeared.

timothy

Towards the Transparent Society

[argent (18001)]

Other things these systems could do include correlating phone IDs with missing big-ticket merchandise to identify possible shoplifters, or look for suspicious activity like repeated visits to rest rooms or other semi-private places by the same set of IDs. Combine it with video records and credit card records and you can get a fair amount of visitor identification without going to the phone company for tracing. Not enough to act, but enough to be useful to security personnel.

It's another step towards Brin's transparent society.

Tracking information

[wfstanle (1188751)]

I don't have objections to it being done correctly. By correctly I would want the following issues to be addressed. 1. No attempts to find out who the cell phone belongs to. (No personally identifiable information). 2. The id number that the cell phone transmits is never stored in any way. The use of an internal identifying number would be acceptable as long as no link was made between the actual cell phone identification number and the internal id number is stored. 3. Every time you visit the mall you get a new internal id number. This would prevent getting information about repeat visits to the mall. My concerns about storing personally identifiable information stems from the government. The government would subpoena for the mall owners cell phone information and all sorts of fun would begin. Even if only a cell phone id number is stored it would be enough for the government to use as a starting point.

so, I want help...

[wherrera (235520)]

Okay, fine, so now I want to use SMS to send my shopping list to the mall, and get in return directions to the aisle and row of the widget I want, with the price displayed on the map on my phone of the mall, with directions if I ask, so I can decide which of two competing stores to go to. Better still, I would not mind if the the higher priced store might offer me a deal when they see me entering their competitor's shop. And no colluding on price, please, I will go to another mall...

prepare for legal action?

[by Anonymous Coward]

Iam sure the cellphone companies will love to put a stop to a third party using their $billion privately licensed network infrastructure for commercial gain that they are not a part of.
Of course if ALL the cellphone companies have giving their blessings to recieve their frequencies then the legal threat is reduced, somehow from reading about their tech they dont have permssion.

i presume they have lawyers?, even a ham radio operator could tell you the laws on reception of signals, bottom line no permission, no reception or usage in any way at ALL

Pay me!!!

[wikinerd (809585)]

Everyone thinks of this story in terms of privacy but no one thinks of it in financial terms: My shop usage data have great financial value (otherwise the shops wouldn't pay to install surveillance systems) and the shop's surveillance is involuntary - I am not given a choice whether to allow them track me or not, except if I avoid transmitting wireless signals while near their shop. As the data collection is not voluntary and my shop usage data have financial value, I demand payment from shops using this system. I want a share of my shop usage data's financial value.

Re:Turn off the phone?

[schnikies79 (788746)]

No, if you turn it off, it's off.

At least on every phone I've owned.

Re:

[kesuki (321456)]

ask Hans Reiser about that

the government being able to track (or remotely turn a phone on, for surveillance) has nothing to do with the cell phone monitoring system set up in malls.

the system set up in malls will only activate if the phone is turned on and sending and receiving signals from the local tower.

In Hans Reisers case, he removed the batteries to avoid a 'feature' in modern cell phones whereby a phone in 'off' mode can be remotely powered up by a broad cast signal sent from all nearby cell towers, to only the specific seri

Re:it's not unnecessary

[russotto (537200)]

A cellphone which is turned off cannot be used to listen in on private conversations. The RF section is off (and you can verify this with a simple ammeter; the RF section draws significant power). Unless, of course, the FBI/CIA/NSA/MI5 has switched your cellphone out for a specially modified one which doesn't actually turn off.

you need to read the other comments here

[ClintJCL (264898)]

Specifically the ones that mention cellphone memory and how conversations can be recorded to that prior to upload NEXT TIME you turn it on.

You also need to read the news.com news article linked to from other comments here. The FBI was pretty clear in its statements.

Thank you for providing the counter-example of a swapped out cellphone -- that'd a good point. But I think they don't even need to do THAT.

And an iphone is not turned off when it's turned off -- Go read the slashdot article about the guy wh

Re:you need to read the other comments here

[Sancho (17056)]

The guy didn't have the radio off--the phone was just in sleep mode, where it still polls for e-mail (if you have it set up to do that.)

The Slashdot article [slashdot.org] linked to http://www.theinquirer.net/en/inquirer/news/2007/09/10/att-is-cruising-for-a-bruising [theinquirer.net] explains it all.

Re:

[yabos (719499)]

There is the airplane mode in the iPhone which shuts off all radios.

Re:

[swillden (191260)]

From what I can tell there is some possibility that some phones might be able to be turned on remotely.

Cite? Because that's BS.

If your phone can be turned on by a radio signal, that means that the RF receiver and amplifier have to be powered up in order to receive the signal, and some processor has to be powered up in order to analyze the incoming signals and determine if the "power up" signal has been received. The technical term for a phone in such a state is "ON".

Just because something is off doesn't mean it is off completely. In fact if you turn off everything in your house, you'll find that you're still consuming considerable electricity from most everything in the house.

Yes, many household electronic devices have a "soft off" mode. Battery-powered devices work differently, because it's a bad thing for a

Re:

[Thaelon (250687)]

The UK and USA governments have both used cellphones to listen in on private conversations WHILE A CALL WAS NOT BEING MADE. Even CNN verifies this. Basically -- taking the battery out IS necessary if you want true privacy with NO chance of interference. And that's just one of many reasons why I would never get the piece of crap called the iPhone.

I would totally trust sensational news from a source that makes money by selling advertisements (requiring high viewership).

If you think this is true enough for it

Re:it's not unnecessary

[drinkypoo (153816)]

Besides, iff off meant it could still be tracked, then if you turned if off, the battery would still drain at a predictable rate, dumbass, it does not.

You clearly have no idea of the technology involved, do you?

The phone only needs to wake up long enough to send one packet to some towers, then turn off. This is especially true in GSM-land; while Sprint and Verizon were able to specify phones with GPS in order to satisfy E911, this didn't really fly for the GSM providers, so they use TDOA - Timed Difference of Arrival. It works like GPS in reverse; the time it takes for the packet to travel from your phone to the towers is measured, at least two signals are compared and a little "magic" (we now call it "signals processing") thrown in, and they can get a pretty good fix.

All your phone has to do is wake up for a couple of seconds every minute and fire off a single ping, and that information can be used to track you. I know this technology is already in common use among GSM providers in the US; not sure about the other guys.

The ONLY reason that cellphones can't be used in the air is the havoc it would wreak on the cell network.

Re:

[drinkypoo (153816)]

4. Is it legal for shopping centers to do this? According to Southern Illinois University it's a class IV felony to record a telephone conversation without the consent of both parties in the state of Illinois.

No one is recording a telephone conversation, just triangulating its source location.

On one hand, it seems like bad form. On the other hand, you're broadcasting EM in their building and asking them not to pick it up is stupid. Finally, this will be done in every shopping mall in the world using cameras sooner or later, so who cares?

Re:

[Vectronic (1221470)]

How long before there is some sort of "Drop Your Cell Phones Off Here" at the entrance to major stores and malls... kinda like how there used to be (and in some places still is) ones for weapons.

Although, obviously the stores themselves wouldnt do this, but once this gets more publicity, or more adoption from other stores, there might be some sort of Anti-Tracking organization that will do it...

"This Store Doesn't Track You"

I don't own a cell phone, and probably never will (by choice), but as anti-tracking

Re:

[kesuki (321456)]

Hmm...sounds like the market is ripe for someone to come up with a convenient enclosure, which will shield the phone signals from escaping when you don't want to be tracked. Some kind of faraday pouch or something that would mask the phone, even if left on?

the type of tracking system in use by malls requires your phone to be in the 'on' position. Simply turning them off will turn them off, at least, for the purpose of malls tracking your movement. yes, modern cell phones secretly listen to broadcasts from the towers, for one of two types of 'secret' features.. first 'automatic listening mode' if your cellphone number is being monitored covertly by the government then they can activate your phone, it will look like it is off, but it will hear any nearby conv

Re:

[kesuki (321456)]

"Or, you could always take your cell phone and put it in a nice metal screen bag."

You Trust 'metal screen bags' really stop the signals? no, the phone itself detects that it's in a 'screen' bag, by the distortion of the mesh and tells the user it is off, if you truly want to build a Faraday cage, use solid sheets of Lead, as a close second use aluminum as always the thicker the better, to truly shield from all lower magnetic spectrum at least 18 gauge lead shielding should be used, to protect from the highe

Re:Walk randomly.

[MrEricSir (398214)]

Instead of walking, we could get a bunch of Roombas and glue cell phones to them.

That should take care of their system. And their floors.

Re:Walk randomly.

[maxwell demon (590494)]

There's no need to use a signal jammer. It's your very own phone. Maybe you've never heard of that concept, but mobile phones tend to have an option which has about the same effect on your own phone phone as a jammer, but without disturbing other people's phones: Just switch your phone off! As an added bonus, you'll also increase the battery life of your phone.

Re:

[Sentry21 (8183)]

You can also enable 'airplane mode' on most phones, which turns off the radio but leaves the phone otherwise functional. Some phones behave oddly when you do this though; my RIZR's clock tends to skew by a few hours a day when I leave it on airplane mode (while I was in the hospital). Screwed with my sense of time for a while until I figured it out.

Re:

[Ice Wewe (936718)]

Even easier than airplane mode, now with less fuss and bother, we bring you the cell phone jamming pouch! It's so simple, I believe even a blindfolded lab rat could figure out how to use it.

Step 1: Buy pouch (http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.1305 [dealextreme.com] $2.85 at the time of writing w/free shipping!)

Step 2: Put phone in pouch before entering mall

Step 3: Take phone out of pouch periodically to check text messages/make calls.

Step 4: Confuse system by having phone randomly appear for short intervals a

Re:Walk randomly.

[kesuki (321456)]

"Even easier than airplane mode, now with less fuss and bother, we bring you the cell phone jamming pouch! It's so simple, I believe even a blindfolded lab rat could figure out how to use it."

leaving your phone on in said pouch will turn it to 'high power transmit mode' which will kill the typical cell phones battery within an hour.

maybe you can disable this power draining feature in some phones, but i have not yet figured out how on my own phone.

BTW the best way to test your phone for if 'high power' mode is on is to stick it in a microwave oven, if it still gets bars after a minute, it's automatically going to 'high power mode' and yes, microwave ovens don't stop much microwave energy, they are considered safe, because people in the airforce have for years been standing much much closer to much much more powerful microwave generators for many hours at a time... in fact i've read that the first discovery of microwave energy for cooking was an accidentally melted chocolate bar, then intentionally popped popcorn, and finally an egg, which exploded.

Re:What about the shopping centers with a poor sig

[maxwell demon (590494)]

They will track you the best, because when the signal quality gets worse, your phone increases its own signal strength in order to keep the connection as long as possible.

Re:

[mikael (484)]

With most shops, they try and arrange the floor sections so that people walk through as many areas as possible. The most popular areas will be at the most inaccessible corner - Bookstores tend to have the expensive educational titles at the very back, while they have the cheap paperbacks at the front of the store.

DIY stores (like IKEA) try and arrange all the sections so that you have to walk through every section (think Koch curve) to get from the main door to the item you want to buy to the checkout desk

Re:

[Stuart Gibson (544632)]

I've often wondered about this (and most forms of advertising), but are geeks generally immune to this sort of thing. If I need something from a supermarket I will take the most direct route to the item and the most direct route to the till. I basically never buy anything not already on the agenda (though I may detour to the DVD section because the supermarkets often have stupidly cheap bargains) and NEVER browse. My wife is the opposite, she'll go for a loaf of bread and come out with a half dozen carrier

Re:

[mikael (484)]

That's the way my womenfolk shop as well. They'll have a list of things they want to get, and they will zig-zag back and forth through the shop, even if items #1 and #3 are within one aisle of each other, they will still travel the four aisles to item #2. I tend to go for the items that are most likely to sell out first, then go for the items that never go out of stock, using the same optimised rout e that I have used before.

Re:

[robo_mojo (997193)]

As a fun experiment, try placing your cellphone (turned on) next to an audio receiver, or television, or any other device that is susceptible to radio interference.

What you'll soon see is that the phone is causing interference (through transmissions) intermittently. For example, every few minutes you will hear slight buzzing from the speakers of your radio or television (and if it is a television you might see the picture go wavy, too).

This is a well-known phenomenon, so saying that phones do not broa

Re:

[Peter Simpson (112887)]

Well, there's CDMA2000 and whatever competes with it (WCDMA?), iDEN (Nextel), WiDEN, PCS, all of which are in common use in the US (I think Sprint is already CDMA2000). Analog and TDMA are dead in the US. None of them use IMEI, but they all have some kind of equipment serial number you could track. iDEN is proprietary, so you might have a patent issue there.

T-Mobile uses only GSM 900, 1800 and 1900 in the US, never 800. So, they'd need to cover all four frequency bands and all the current and near-future p