Are These Digital Ad Kiosks Silently Tracking You And Sharing Your Data?
One company is behind a trend that is growing across the United States.
Soofa
By now, most of us have come to terms with the fact that advertisers are keeping tabs on pretty much anything we do online, but many folks might not know that similar tracking systems are in use out in the real world.
One company in particular is on the cutting edge of using physical advertisements to grab the location data of passersby and share that information without ever asking for consent.
Getting to know Soofa
Although it might sound nefarious, the company in question — Soofa — insists that its products are providing a useful service and people shouldn’t be worried about what information its digital kiosks can access and share with advertisers or even government entities.
But as more and more of these kiosks (which typically display ads and relevant information to pedestrians) become more common across the U.S., there’s growing concern about what they actually do.
Soofa’s website boasts that it has “developed the first pedestrian impressions sensor that measures accurate foot traffic in real-time,” noting that its affiliates “can check their analytics dashboard anytime to see how their campaigns are tracking towards impressions goals.”
From the perspective of advertisers, this is clearly beneficial information to have … but should pedestrians be concerned?
What Soofa is collecting
There are a number of data points these kiosks are capable of recording from smartphones as pedestrians pass by, including:
- Manufacturer’s name
- Unique identification code
- Signal strength
This provides Soofa with enough information to determine how many people are walking in certain locations. In addition to sharing this insight with advertisers, the company also reportedly provides reports to local governments.
Despite the potential upside of this strategy, groups like the American Civil Liberties Union have expressed concerns about such information being misused to track people near protests or other sensitive locations.
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