Brookline's new kiosk tracks cell phone data

BROOKLINE – Data is everywhere. It's at your fingertips. It's posted all over the city, and often your data can be distributed without you even knowing it. Brookline is installing new digital billboards around town that track certain cell phone data so people can start talking.

“I think in today's world, everything is being tracked whether we like it or not,” said Glenn Gay, who was walking past one of the kiosks on Washington Street. “I'm just curious, how are they using the data?”

These kiosks are manufactured by a local company called Soofa. View information from bus arrival times to local events. The board's kiosk is equipped with a sensor that detects a mobile phone's unique identifier when Wi-Fi is turned on. The company says the data is encrypted before being transferred to Data Portal. This information helps the city track the number of people who cross the board.

Brookline CBS Boston Digital Kiosk

Town officials say this information helps the board understand the size of the audience it is reaching. The town hopes to use the board to send out a local message ahead of the Boston Marathon. Pedestrian traffic data will also allow us to understand how many people will be in the kiosk area during the marathon, allowing us to better tailor bulletin board information to high-traffic areas next year.

Phone users will not see a message that the kiosk is tracking their data.

“I was a little surprised to find out because I spend about 10 to 15 minutes here a day,” said Jenna Woods, sitting near the kiosk. “I wish this was more publicized. I mean, I have nothing to hide, so they can collect as much as they want. Would that be funny? Probably not.”

Cyber ​​experts say these are all completely legal and more common than you think. The data they are tracking is usually broadcast information from mobile phones.

“A clock that says I'm here, and a clock that says I'm here for a certain amount of time. There's no personally identifiable information,” explains Peter Tran, chief information security officer at IT security firm Infersight. . “For mobile phones, the user needs to know that you are broadcasting a certain type of information, so that the cell tower authenticates you and that your mobile phone What you're typically broadcasting is basic information about your hardware and your position within the systems of AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile's networks.”

Tran said that while this is a single piece of public information, many pieces of information combined can be valuable from a financial perspective. Soofa guarantees that no data association will take place and no data will be sold to third parties. Only your mobile phone's unique identifier is collected.

“It's not illegal or an invasion of privacy per se, but it increases the level of exposure and risk from the user's perspective,” Tran said.

If you want to avoid collection, Tran suggests turning off Wi-Fi when you're not using it. The same goes for Bluetooth.

Sources 1/ https://Google.com/ 2/ https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/digital-signs-brookline-track-cellphone-data/ The mention sources can contact us to remove/changing this article

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