You may now shop two malls again without fear of individualized tracking—at least by your cell phone signal. Privacy concerns raised by US Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) have ended plans by malls in southern California and Virginia to “survey” customers’ shopping habits by tracking their cell phone signals.
As Ars Technica previously reported, Forest City, the mall developer that owns and operates the Promenade Temecula in Temecula, California and Short Pump Town Center in Richmond, Virginia had announced it would test technology in those two malls from Path Intelligence. Called Footpath, the system uses a series of cellular signal detectors to triangulate the movement of customers’ phones — and by extension, the customers themselves — through the mall’s stores and other spaces. While the technology doesn’t eavesdrop on cell phone users’ calls or record information about their phone numbers, it does use their cellular device’s digital signature to track individuals.
