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[telecom] Bluetooth people trackers in payphone kiosks in NYC

yet another reason why outdoor payphones still exist (working or not...) in NYC

[Buzzfeed]

Exclusive: Hundreds Of Devices Hidden Inside New York City Phone Booths

Beacons can push you ads - and help track your every move.

A company that controls thousands of New York City's phone booth advertising displays has planted tiny radio transmitters known as "beacons" - devices that can be used to track people's movements - in hundreds of pay phone booths in Manhattan, BuzzFeed News has learned.

And it's all with the blessing of a city agency - but without any public notice, consultation, or approval.

Titan, the outdoor media company that sells ad space in more than 5,000 panels in phone kiosks around the five boroughs, has installed about 500 of the beacons, a spokesman for the city's Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DoITT), Nicholas Sbordone, confirmed to BuzzFeed News. === rest:

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_____________________________________________________ Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key snipped-for-privacy@panix.com [to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]

***** Moderator's Note *****

Someone fill me in: what is a beacon, and how does it work?

Bill Horne Moderator

Reply to
danny burstein
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It's in the article that was linked in the message:

Beacons are Bluetooth devices that emit simple signals that smartphones can pick up. They're best known for their growing use in commercial settings: in stores, for example, to alert customers to sales, or in stadiums, to tell patrons which entrances are least crowded.

Reply to
Barry Margolin

Per danny burstein:

I thought my device had to consent to be paired with another BlueTooth device.

The article seems to suggest that a nearby BlueTooth device can pair with my phone with no interaction from me.

Can somebody explain?

Reply to
Pete Cresswell

Here's some more information about iBeacon:

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It doesn't go into much detail about this, but I gather that Bluetooth Low Energy doesn't require the devices to pair with each other explicitly. It seems to be the same technology used for using a smartphone to pay for something by holding it next to the POS terminal.

The beacon simply broadcasts its UUID, and the mobile device may send back its UUID in response. For many uses, the device doesn't have to respond -- the iBeacon-enabled application uses the beacon's UUID to determine its location, and display appropriate information or ads.

The way you're tracked isn't by detecting the device directly. Rather, it's because the application needs to look up the beacon's UUID over the Internet, to find out what it should display. The server that provides this information can record information about which device queried it, and which beacon it was looking up.

Reply to
Barry Margolin

Look up BTLE ("Bluetooth Low Energy"). It's a somewhat different beast than "classic" BlueTooth.

Reply to
David Platt

Per Barry Margolin:

Thanks. I feel vindicated...

Now we need somebody to tell us how this stuff happens without the target cell phone's consent....

Reply to
Pete Cresswell

When you install an app that uses iBeacon, that's the consent.

Hopefully the app allows you to opt in/out of using this (unless, of course, that's the only point of the app).

- - Barry Margolin, snipped-for-privacy@alum.mit.edu Arlington, MA

*** PLEASE post questions in newsgroups, not directly to me *** ***** Moderator's Note *****

Since the company serves multiple cities, including mine, please tell the readers how to spot "beacon-enabled" aps. This kind of thing worries me.

Bill Horne Moderator

Reply to
Barry Margolin

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