Malls cancel plans to track shoppers by monitoring their cell phone signals.
Two malls are axing their plans to track shoppers' cell phones, after a U.S. senator raised privacy concerns over the weekend.
As CNNMoney first reported last week, the Promenade Temecula in southern California and Short Pump Town Center in Richmond, Va., launched a survey on Black Friday, tracking shoppers' movements by monitoring the signals from their cell phones.
The original plan was for those malls to continue the survey through New Year's Day, but after receiving a phone call from Sen. Charles Schumer's office over the weekend, they put the survey on hold.
In a press conference on Sunday, Sen. Charles Schumer said the malls should have given shoppers the choice to opt-in.
"A shopper's personal cell phone should not be used by a third party as a tracking device by retailers who are seeking to determine holiday shopping patterns," the New York senator said in a statement. "Personal cell phones are just that -- personal. If retailers want to tap into your phone to see what your shopping patterns are, they can ask you for your permission to do so."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/technology/chi-malls-retreat-on-plans-to-track-shoppers-cell-phones-20111128,0,6644526.story