Hundreds of Hidden Tracking Beacons - NYC

[hooky]

I'm assuming this will become a political discussion, so I posted it here instead of in the break room.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/josephberns...devices-hidden-inside-new-york-city-ph#ivg8r1

Zero transparency to citizens as NYC gov't gave the go ahead for the advertising agency to install these beacons, but did not make it public knowledge that they were there. The beacons utilize bluetooth and could track your device, as well as all other kinds of data.

Titan is the name of the company that put them up, but even the beacon's manufacturer (Gimbal, a Qualcomm spinoff) is accessing and consolidating the data. From the beacon manufacturer's privacy policy:

Gimbal-powered apps may collect your current location, the time of day you passed the beacon, and details about your device. These apps may also, under certain circumstances, collect data about the websites you visit, the apps on your phone, and the “frequency and duration of app usage.” The policy says that app-usage and website-visit data are not sent to Gimbal’s servers.

User's who opt in are giving up even more of their private data.

 

[zippy23]

i'm surprised its taken this long for the gov't to install this kind of stuff. i imagine there is lots of this going on and we'll never know.

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

In its current iteration, a Gimbal beacon requires a third-party app to trigger advertisements, and requires those apps to receive “opt-in” permission from users in order to collect data and send notifications. (Users, of course, also need to have Bluetooth enabled.)

I know folks are on a hair trigger when it comes to government snooping. But as longs as it takes an intentional, manually activated action to opt in, I don't see a problem with this.

 

[hooky]

Gimbal, the beacon manufacturer, is collecting the data via the beacons whether you opt in or not. If you don't opt in, the data is supposedly stripped of any unique identifier and aggregated as anonymous user data. The opt in is for advertisers to send you ads via the apps, i.e. your app for Target or Macy's seeing you're a block away from the store and sending you a flash sale announcement for that particular location. They have to collect data in order to identify you so the apps can determine if you've opted in or not.

The beacon industry is rooted in the increasingly complex interactions between the beacons, smartphone applications, and cloud-based data collection. Gimbal’s own, public documentation repeatedly and plainly indicates that the company receives beacon-phone interaction data. Those interactions, which Gimbal calls “sightings,” are illustrated in the following graphic from the documentation’s “Proximity Overview” section, intended for prospective Gimbal clients:

The .gov issue is the lack of transparency. They allowed them to be put in city property without notifying the public.

 

[BogWalker]

Another good reason why I have sat out this smart phone and portable device craze.

 

[kiddchaos]

Geofencing. It's the new marketing craze.
Turn off bluetooth.

 

[Cameramonkey]

It's wifi and fast pass too.

You Can buy a meraki managed wifi access point for your business to provide both employee and customer wifi access. One of the cool features is the device tracking feature. It's designed to give you an idea how many people enter your store, how often they come in, and how long they loiter. (I use these at my offices. Not for this feature, but for other features... I just stumbled onto it one day)

It it won't identify you personally, but it tracks your devices as they scan for wifi. So it may not know you by name, but the coffee shop you frequent knows you come in almost every day at 7:35 and spend typically 10 minutes in the store. It also knows you come in for hourlong sessions periodically (eg you conduct customer meetings there)

Ios8 though is making that harder on Apple devices. Apple got wind of these schemes and has now implemented a new feature where when doing proximity scans to query nearby networks it randomizes the hardware address of the radio so tracking devices like this won't work anymore. Each time it scans it changes its signature to fool outside devices.

also nyc got busted a while back for tracking folks via their fast pass toll boxes. A hobbyist built a box to light up every time it was hit by one of the transponders that the fast pass system uses to collect tolls as you cross the bridge, go thru the toll booth, etc.

mysteriously, he noticed his box lighting up at various intersections midtown, nowhere near toll spots. Apparently somebody at the city was playing around with tracking cars moving around the city for some reason.

Here is a sample of what one of those analytic engines spits out... Kinda cool actually. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/59860621/analytics.PNG

 

[Mr Evilwrench]

Every radio receiver has a local oscillator. Not a very strong signal, but it can be detected if you know the frequency and offset. Or just look for it and find it. This is how, for example, The Germans, Cubans, British, etc. were able to find receivers for their various purposes. They put them up, we can find them. It may take some diligence, but capture one, and the rest will be easier. Heck, there's probably some information out on the internet already.

 

[DanSwanky]

I don't think the majority of people will see what is wrong with things like this. In a society where social media is more of a reality to people than their actual lives it will just be easier for them if their smart phones start making more decisions for them so they can continue facebook stalking and playing games on their smart phone. Free and independent thought is slowly going the way of the flip phone.

 

[snorko]

"Good morning Mr. Nakimita, how did those khakis work out for you?"