While GPS tracking can follow your smartphone around a store with a precision of around 5 meters, tracking the phone's bluetooth device allows following its location to within a few centimeters. This relies on tracking built into phone "apps" but there are no easy ways to determine which ones are the culprits.
Most people aren’t aware they are being watched with beacons, but the “beacosystem” tracks millions of people every day. Beacons are placed at airports, malls, subways, buses, taxis, sporting arenas, gyms, hotels, hospitals, music festivals, cinemas and museums, and even on billboards.
In order to track you or trigger an action like a coupon or message to your phone, companies need you to install an app on your phone that will recognize the beacon in the store. Retailers (like Target and Walmart) that use Bluetooth beacons typically build tracking into their own apps. But retailers want to make sure most of their customers can be tracked — not just the ones that download their own particular app.
So a hidden industry of third-party location-marketing firms has proliferated in response. These companies take their beacon tracking code and bundle it into a toolkit developers can use.
[Updated 20190618_020843 UTC to restore links in first quoted paragraph. --martyb]
Earlier on SN:
Now Apps Can Track You Even After You Uninstall Them (2018)
Related Stories
If it seems as though the app you deleted last week is suddenly popping up everywhere, it may not be mere coincidence. Companies that cater to app makers have found ways to game both iOS and Android, enabling them to figure out which users have uninstalled a given piece of software lately—and making it easy to pelt the departed with ads aimed at winning them back.
Adjust, AppsFlyer, MoEngage, Localytics, and CleverTap are among the companies that offer uninstall trackers, usually as part of a broader set of developer tools. Their customers include T-Mobile US, Spotify Technology, and Yelp. (And Bloomberg Businessweek parent Bloomberg LP, which uses Localytics.) Critics say they're a fresh reason to reassess online privacy rights and limit what companies can do with user data. "Most tech companies are not giving people nuanced privacy choices, if they give them choices at all," says Jeremy Gillula, tech policy director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a privacy advocate.
Some providers say these tracking tools are meant to measure user reaction to app updates and other changes. Jude McColgan, chief executive officer of Boston's Localytics, says he hasn't seen clients use the technology to target former users with ads.
[...] Uninstall tracking exploits a core element of Apple Inc.'s and Google's mobile operating systems: push notifications. Developers have always been able to use so-called silent push notifications to ping installed apps at regular intervals without alerting the user—to refresh an inbox or social media feed while the app is running in the background, for example. But if the app doesn't ping the developer back, the app is logged as uninstalled, and the uninstall tracking tools add those changes to the file associated with the given mobile device's unique advertising ID, details that make it easy to identify just who's holding the phone and advertise the app to them wherever they go.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday June 17 2019, @02:18PM (1 child)
Why haven't the telcos contracted to preinstall these beacons on the phones, before they sell/rent/lease the phones to consumers? No need to worry about which apps might be installed then.
Want to bet that it's already under negotiation?
“I have become friends with many school shooters” - Tampon Tim Walz
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 17 2019, @04:08PM
Apple and Google want those morsells for themselves.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 17 2019, @02:22PM (4 children)
"So a hidden industry of third-party location-marketing firms has proliferated in response."
Time for a third-party industry of bluetooth jammers.
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Monday June 17 2019, @02:26PM (3 children)
Will soon be (is already?) illegal.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 17 2019, @02:42PM (2 children)
Not if it plays the same game as the beacon, just sends poisoned location data.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 17 2019, @06:01PM (1 child)
You can't send poisoned data, it is just triangulation of the signal.
(Score: 2) by urza9814 on Monday June 17 2019, @08:50PM
What if you artificially attenuate the signals headed in a certain direction? Maybe wrap half the phone in foil or something?
Or...how fast could you alter the strength of a bluetooth transmission in software? Perhaps if you sent the same signal on repeat, but rapidly modulating so that different receivers might pick different transmissions with different signal strength when trying to calculate the distance? Although that sounds a bit implausible even to me...
Perhaps you can build two bluetooth transmitters designed to transmit the same signal at the same time...and temporarily deposit one in a potted plant while you walk around carrying the other.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Snow on Monday June 17 2019, @02:47PM (7 children)
We had Aruba come by the office and show off this tech. We were interested in using it with an app for fuel sales. We'd have an app and when a customer enters the property, the app would wake up, sense what is the nearest fuel pump, and then ask if they want to activate it.
There was other things too like if the customer used the washroom, duration of stay, etc. It was actually really cool from a retailer perspective, but creepy AF from a customer perspective.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 17 2019, @03:14PM (4 children)
That's being polite.
You don't bother TELLING the customer is happening to them, do you?
Will you also 'tune' the price or force other shit down their throats based on guessing how much money they have?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Snow on Monday June 17 2019, @07:58PM (3 children)
I'm just a cog in the machine. Legal stuff isn't my problem(TM).
I'm sure it will be buried in some super long and illegible EULA.
As for the pricing, customers do get preferential pricing depending on how much fuel they buy. Maybe credit rating factors in. I have no idea. I don't deal with the money/billing. That's a business problem.
It really opened my eyes about what was possible. I never download retailer apps anyways, but now I'm especially not!
(Score: 4, Insightful) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Tuesday June 18 2019, @06:08AM (2 children)
Just following orders, then.
It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.
(Score: 2) by Snow on Tuesday June 18 2019, @02:51PM (1 child)
Well yea... Not sure how your workplace works....
(Score: 2) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Tuesday June 18 2019, @11:48PM
Agree with it or don't care? Stay where you are.
Have a problem? Find another career.
It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Monday June 17 2019, @04:08PM (1 child)
Note in Europe the retailer needs specific permission to hold their customer's data, thanks to GDPR, and the customer can tell the retailer delete that data.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 17 2019, @05:54PM
butbutbut socialism!
butbutbut cookie notifications!
butbutbut imma firewallin the EU!
(Score: 3, Informative) by NotSanguine on Monday June 17 2019, @03:27PM (8 children)
To disable GPS, Bluetooth, Wifi (when in public) and (if you have Android) Google Location Services (GLS).
I get that if you can't find your way around (if traveling, for instance), you might want to use your phone's GPS, but leaving Bluetooth or even Wifi enabled (let alone GLS) while out and about is just asking for this shit.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday June 17 2019, @04:52PM (5 children)
I see. But, you haven't turned your phone off, have you? The Telco knows where you are, right? Or, did you drop the phone into a Faraday cage when you got in the car? That would work well enough. 'Course, you might as well turn it off and save the battery.
“I have become friends with many school shooters” - Tampon Tim Walz
(Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Monday June 17 2019, @05:23PM (3 children)
I know. I'm just an idiot. If turn it off or put it in a faraday cage, I can't receive telephone calls. I mean, it's not like it's a telephone, right?
Also, I was unaware that retailers had agreements with the phone companies to track me while in their stores. I mean, it's not like retailers tracking you in the aisles is what TFA is about, right?
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 2) by SomeGuy on Monday June 17 2019, @08:22PM (2 children)
You really just can't call someone back later?
(Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Monday June 17 2019, @08:29PM
Do I really need to put Poe's law disclaimers on every post?
I thought that comment was just dripping with sarcasm, but I guess I didn't lay it on thick enough. My bad.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Monday June 17 2019, @08:33PM
If you want a serious response, how will I know someone has called if I turn off the phone?
It's not like anyone leaves voicemails anymore.
And the same goes for text messages.
Meh, I like the sarcasm better.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Tuesday June 18 2019, @04:03AM
This is why phone batteries are non-removable.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday June 17 2019, @04:57PM (1 child)
https://www.amazon.com/faraday-bag-phone/s?k=faraday+bag+for+phone [amazon.com]
“I have become friends with many school shooters” - Tampon Tim Walz
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 17 2019, @05:21PM
faraday burka
(Score: 2) by SomeGuy on Monday June 17 2019, @03:58PM (9 children)
Look at me! I'm walking around like I'm invisible! No tracking, no coupons spewed at me, no gadgets pestering me for my attention.
You can't even fathom how this is possible.
"Uh, uh, hhhuuuu, he's unscanable!" [has meltdown]
It is so... unthinkable... impossible... can't be... everyone MUST have one! The thought itself seems not valid!
Yep, no fucking "smart"phone.
(Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 17 2019, @04:11PM (3 children)
“Hi, I’m from security. You fit the profile of an undesireable. We’ll be tailing you during your visit.”
(Score: 4, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 17 2019, @04:27PM
"Hi, security. I'm from Face Recognition Corp. Your job will be obsolete in a few minutes. And we'll fix that tracking glitch too."
(Score: 1) by Chrontius on Tuesday June 18 2019, @04:35AM (1 child)
"While you're trailing me, make yourself useful. Where do you keep the gelusil? What about dish detergent?"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 18 2019, @07:55AM
"Sir, this is a Golden Corral, not a department store. Those items can be found in the pantry."
(Score: 3, Interesting) by bob_super on Monday June 17 2019, @04:36PM (2 children)
"Our 4G/5G nanocells will eventually pierce through your cloak of invisibility. You can't opt out of those unless you turn off your phone, and that's really inconvenient, isn't it ?"
I'd say something about face tracking, but that still requires more quality HW than most stores are willing to invest in, when over 90% of customers are gullible enough to download the store apps.
We need a Ublock-style open-source app that turns off your Wi-Fi / BT (or plain goes into airplane mode) when you approach a store known for shenanigans, and tells you why in clear text. Would be hell downtown.
Maybe I'll look into it. Sounds like a fun programming exercise.
(Score: 2) by edIII on Monday June 17 2019, @07:59PM (1 child)
Nah. It doesn't bother me at all to turn off my phone completely, or place it in a Faraday Bag (they sell them on Amazon apparently) when I get a few miles from home. My phone is a burner anyways, and my main point of contact is actually in a data center. It forwards SIP packets, or creates a VoIP call to my burner phone when I need it too. Most traffic doesn't get that far and is shunted towards voicemail. I simply don't care if I miss the phone call, especially because that was ostensibly on my own time.
By the time I get home and sit down, my communications have already been routed to my deskphone and I can see who I missed in that last 5 minutes. The burner phone is easy enough to remove the whole damn battery. Don't think they're actually tracking a completely dead phone. Even so, those Faraday Bags that Runaway put a link for look very interesting.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 3, Funny) by bob_super on Monday June 17 2019, @09:30PM
"Very few consider the needs of the emergency Trans national trumpet repair group."
(Ars Technica comments meme, about EV range)
The word outlier doesn't even start to describe you. You're so far out of the norm that V'yger is asking you for a rideshare.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 17 2019, @05:52PM
Luddite. That's all.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 17 2019, @06:30PM
Yo, man, just shut up buy an iPhone and be a good little girly nigger like the rest of us.
(Score: 3, Informative) by DannyB on Monday June 17 2019, @06:07PM (1 child)
Every business wants me to install an app. I'm not going to. These apps offer little value, do unknown things, there there is a scaleability problem if every local business wants me to install one.
Wouldn't it be easier if cameras were used and everyone were required to have a square barcode on their forehead?
The server will be down for replacement of vacuum tubes, belts, worn parts and lubrication of gears and bearings.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 17 2019, @07:03PM
Not just barcodes, you can have QR codes too/instead [slaveregistry.com][may be nsfw, depending on how uptight your boss is]
(Score: 3, Funny) by SemperOSS on Monday June 17 2019, @06:28PM (2 children)
This is exactly why I always turn off Bluetooth as well as WiFi on my phone.
Since this may not be enough to keep me anonymous, I also activate Flight Mode, turn off the phone, wrap it up in alu-foil and put it in a lead-lined briefcase. To further ensure that my phone does not leak any data, I put the briefcase in my radiation-proof vault, which I have dug into the bedrock under my house ... And now I'm laughing like a madman every time I read stories like this — they don't catch me out!
Some friends have suggested that I took a sledgehammer or similar crushing instrument to the phone ... Silly idea, that would break the phone and make it unusable.
Open Source Solutions and Digital Sovereignty is the new black
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 17 2019, @09:23PM (1 child)
Oh noes! You forgot to take out the battery!
It could catch fire and burn your briefcase.
(Score: 1) by SemperOSS on Monday June 17 2019, @10:02PM
Sigh! My phone does not have a replaceable battery, so to take it out — especially with my well-known, patented ten-thumb-phone-disassembly-skills™ — would make the phone unusable, which counters the whole idea of my precautions.
Open Source Solutions and Digital Sovereignty is the new black
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 18 2019, @03:30PM (1 child)
Posting as AC due to an NDA.
I've worked with these beacons; even devloped an app module to use them. They rely on Bluetooth low Energy [wikipedia.org]. The way modern phones are designed, BTLE is always on. for the posters in the above comments: You do not switch it off when you turn off bluetooth. If an app that interacts with bluetooth beacons, it can ping them in the background.
(Score: 2) by etherscythe on Wednesday June 19 2019, @05:41PM
Very interesting! Any corroboration for the claim of always on? This site seems to indicate otherwise:
https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/connectivity/bluetooth-le [android.com]
"Fake News: anything reported outside of my own personally chosen echo chamber"