Retail Stores Plan Elaborate Ways To Track You 195
Velcroman1 writes "Retailers are experimenting with a variety of new ways to track you, so that when you pick up a shirt, you might get a message about the matching shorts. Or pick up golf shoes at a sports store and you see a discount for a new set of clubs. New technologies like magnetic field detection, Bluetooth Low Energy, sonic pulses, and even transmissions from the in-store lights can tell when you enter a store, where you go, and how you shop. Just last year, tracking was only accurate within 100 feet. Starting this year, they can track within a few feet. ByteLight makes the lighting tech, which transmits a unique signal that the camera in your phone can read. The store can then track your location within about 3 feet — and it's already in use at the Museum of Science in Boston."
Re:Going to the leave the phone at home (Score:5, Insightful)
Shopping will be an event to put on facial makeup. Black lines for beneath the eyes and above the eyebrows (I think a tube of black lipstick will do nicely).
Why inconvenience yourself by leaving your phone at home, when you can just avoid those store that use this tech?
If I get a text message when I walk into a store I will never set foot in that store again. There are plenty of on-line
shops that sell the same thing. I don't like busybody sales clerks hovering over my shoulder while I shop and I sure
as hell don't expect to put up with some computer doing the same thing.
Re:Nothing to see here (Score:4, Insightful)
This is what Shopkick is. The users earn points called "kicks" for entering the participating stores. One app, many stores.
It's certainly not my cup of tea, but there are lots of people who voluntarily install these kinds of apps, especially when they get free stuff for doing so.