Shopping Malls Can Now Track You

A new company in the U.K. is using special devices to track a shopper’s every move, in order to determine what stores are visited, how long they remain there, and what route they took, according to MocoNews. The company making the devices is called Path Intelligence.

Here’s how it works: cell phones normally ping the carrier networks every couple of minutes, even when you’re not using them, in order to check in and re-establish your location. The Path Intelligence devices listen in for that from your specific cell phone, and then use triangulation to figure out where you are.

The report said that the concerns about this service are obviously vast. “The receiver apparently can’t get personal details about a person’s identity, but of course privacy is a big concern. Whether it works well is a whole other consideration. Triangulation out in the wild is not typically not that accurate, but this company claims it knows when you’ve entered a Starbucks.”

(Image credit: Times Online)

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