Data is everywhere. It is at your fingertips. It's all over town, yet your info may be shared around without your knowledge. Brookline put digital signs throughout town, which have gotten people talking since they are collecting individual cell phone data.
Glen Gay, who was passing by one of the Washington Street kiosks, stated, "I guess everything is tracked in today's world whether you like to or not." "I am just a little curious what they are doing with the data?”
Brookline.News initially reported on the kiosks, which are created by a local US company called Soofa. They display a wide range of information, including bus arrival times and local activities. The boards contain sensors in the kiosks that detect a unique identity in your phone when WiFi is turned on. The company claims that the data is encrypted before it is delivered to their data site. The information helps the city in tracking how often people cross the boards.
Town officials said the data will help them determine the size of the audience the board is reaching. The town hopes to use the boards to send out localised messages ahead of the Boston Marathon. The foot traffic data will also help them learn how many people visit the kiosks throughout the marathon, allowing them to better adapt the board content to high-traffic regions next year.
Phone users will not see a prompt indicating that the kiosk is keeping track of their data.
"I linger here 10 to 15 minutes a day, so knowing that freaked me out a little bit," stated Jenna Woods, as she sits near a kiosk. "I wish that it was more public knowledge. I mean, I have nothing to hide, so they can collect as much as they want. Will it be interesting? Probably not.”
Cyber experts claim that, contrary to popular belief, all of this is completely legal. Usually, the data they monitor is broadcast data from a mobile device.
"It says I am here, and a clock that says I am here for a certain period of time. There is no personal identifiable information," notes Peter Tran, Chief Information Security Officer with the IT security firm Infersight. "With cell phones, users have to be aware that you are broadcasting out certain types of information, so the cell towers can authenticate you and know it's your cellphone. What you are normally broadcasting is some basic information about your hardware, your place in the network of AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile.”
Tran claims that while these are individual bits of public information, integrating them can be financially beneficial. Soofa claims that no data correlation is performed, nor that any data is sold to a third party. Only your phone's unique identification is collected.
To avoid collecting, Tran recommends turning off your WiFi while you are not using it. The same goes for your Bluetooth.