Turn off the WiFi on your mobile

wibble

I did a contract at a company that specialised in footfall/people counting. They have a lot of installations around the country, major retail chains, sports stadiums etc etc.

Depending on the application/location, various technologies were used. Ranging from IR beams to cameras (of various types). A lot of public places have a requirement to monitor occupancy levels and how close they are to their safe legal capacity. Other metrics are measured/inferred when this data is integrated with retail systems eg average spend, peak traffic etc

Heat maps of footfall can be generated eg to optimise display stands, valuation of shop units, effect of events/promotions etc.

They were also augment footfall data with the ability to track (annonymously) the flow of customers via wifi/bluetooth enabled devices.

So if you're paranoid, don't go out in public places!

PolarityMan

I like the idea of screwing with data by randomly wandering in and out of a shop over and over again.

d8m

When I had a Tesco Clubcard I used to chuck a couple of random things in the shopping each week just to throw the data off a bit.

RaymondLin

bingefeller said:

Interesting that you post this thread, @Emp_Fab.

I have a Boots card on which I collect the points and I also have their app on my phone.  I can get a mobile signal OK so I never need to use the Boots instore wifi.  

I need my eyes tested and plan on getting new glasses and there is a new Boots Opticians opened up so I will go there as they have a better selection of frames and they are cheaper.  I called in for a look around and went back out again with the intention of making an appointment a weeks down the line.  A few days later I got in a circular from Boots giving me money off an eye examination and something like an extra 200 points if I buy glasses.  Now I'm not one to be paranoid but some one is tracking something through my phone here.  

If you have a Starbucks card and app you will notice this.

Notification will pop up whenever you are near a Starbuck that you frequent.  If you have logged into the wifi before you will also log into any Starbucks, not just the one you been to before.

dafuzz

In fairness, while there is an undeniably creepy element to it all, if I visited Japan for the first time and walked into a Starbucks for example, and a 3D hologrammatic assistant said "hello Mr Fuzz, nice to see you! Would you like your usual uber-caffeinated cup of froth mud? I can order it for you now and charge your credit card automatically, take a seat" in English, I might like that. I'd just want to feel I'd been offered the option of it happening and agreed in advance, that's all.

d8m

When the cashier in Starbucks asks for my name to write on the cup I give a fake one.

Over the last year I've been:

James
Brian
Ivor
Billy
Dick
Angelo
Zeus

And last but not least

Samantha

RaymondLin

d8m;490306" said:

When the cashier in Starbucks asks for my name to write on the cup I give a fake one.

Over the last year I've been:

James
Brian
Ivor
Billy
Dick
Angelo
Zeus

And last but not least

Samantha

It's just so you don't take someone else's drink. It's not really about "personal" service. I wanted to say Santa over Christmas but kept forgetting.

ICBM

In the unlikely event that I feel like paying a stupid amount of money for a coffee and to have some young twit who is sure they're far cooler than anyone twice their age to patronise me, I'll try to remember to make my name something really difficult to spell...

d8m

ICBM said:

In the unlikely event that I feel like paying a stupid amount of money for a coffee and to have some young twit who is sure they're far cooler than anyone twice their age to patronise me, I'll try to remember to make my name something really difficult to spell...

One day I'll give my name as Costa

bingefeller

d8m said:

When the cashier in Starbucks asks for my name to write on the cup I give a fake one.

Over the last year I've been:

James
Brian
Ivor
Billy
Dick
Angelo
Zeus

And last but not least

Samantha

They ask everyone their name?  I thought the girl just asked me because she fancied me and wrote my name on the cup as a flirtatious gesture.  

RaymondLin

bingefeller said:

They ask everyone their name?  I thought the girl just asked me because she fancied me and wrote my name on the cup as a flirtatious gesture.  

There's a girl who used to draw a heart on my cup ! 

Emp_Fab

bingefeller said:

CabbageCat said:

If the Gestapo are interested in the tedious minutiae of Fab's life all they need to do is sign up here. The idea that someone out there is putting in the effort to hack into his phone, track his movements and rifle through his most private thoughts to find out how many people made him cross on the M4 today is a little bit unbelievable.

He was talking in general, not about himself in particular. 

Indeed, but when has CabbageCat ever let the truth get in the way of a petty ad-hominem eh ?

bingefeller

Emp_Fab said:

bingefeller said:

CabbageCat said:

If the Gestapo are interested in the tedious minutiae of Fab's life all they need to do is sign up here. The idea that someone out there is putting in the effort to hack into his phone, track his movements and rifle through his most private thoughts to find out how many people made him cross on the M4 today is a little bit unbelievable.

He was talking in general, not about himself in particular. 

Indeed, but when has CabbageCat ever let the truth get in the way of a petty ad-hominem eh ?

Is CabbageCat SeriousCat from MR?

VimFuego

could be [/end hong kong phooey]

Myranda

Public WiFi is more likely to be used for nefarious types stealing your passwords, and giving you malware than collecting data for the shadowy types in the lizard controlled governments. Sure they can, but there's an awful lot of data to sniff out there, so they have to be at least a little selective

hugbot

Yeah I'm not really paranoid about the government (in that respect at least) because if they wanted to get me, I'm screwed wifi or no wifi. Security vulnerabilities though are scary.

dchwhite

d8m said:

When I had a Tesco Clubcard I used to chuck a couple of random things in the shopping each week just to throw the data off a bit.

An old friend used to refuse to participate in the Nectar scheme, and would gift her points to whomever was behind her in the Sainsburys queue. She was particularly pleased if it was someone shopping economically for a large family, as she thought all her organic whatnots for two, posh vino and the like would confuddle the data-miners.

d8m

Bugger this!

Everyone in the bunker!

d8m

This is on BBC3 tonight:

coincidence!

bingefeller

d8m said:

This is on BBC3 tonight:

coincidence!

BBC are monitoring this thread.