Our Goal

Organizations should ideally be required to collect and use data responsibly, but unfortunately, people’s privacy rights are not always respected. Contrary to popular belief that people are indifferent towards privacy invasion in the digital age, a 2015 study by Pew Research Center suggests that amongst 461 people surveyed:

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• 93% consider it important to be in control of who can get their information. 

• 88% consider it important to not have someone watch them or listen to them without their permission. 

• 90% consider it important to control what information is being collected about them. 

• 63% consider it important to be able to go around in public without being identified.

While tracking and data sharing is known to be a part of the offline and online shopping experiences within a store's premises, people are largely unaware that without their consent, private retailers use additional technologies to track consumers in public spaces in the physical world. This lack of awareness is due to the hidden nature of these technologies, that are not only placed obscurely within the premises but also work behind the scenes on a device, without direct engagement with the user.

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In addition to that, companies that utilize beacon technology do not adequately respect citizen privacy, given that: 

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• Beacons are neither widely known, nor heavily researched. This has led to lack of data availability on the technology, its capabilities and usage by private companies. 

• Since beacons do not employ direct engagement with the user, consumers are unaware that they are being tracked in a public space by retailers. This is compounded by the fact that beacons are practically invisible, and interact with bluetooth equipped devices behind the scenes through hidden third-party app services embedded within everyday apps. Such data collection without user consent also violates user’s privacy, which people are increasingly becoming concerned with. 

• There isn't an existing framework of privacy related policy

Therefore, raising awareness on both unconsented consumer tracking and the technologies involved can help push for reforms in privacy policies and regulations, thus allowing citizens the freedom to opt in or out of “hidden” tracking technologies and have ownership of their data.​

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Source:

Madden, M., & Rainie, L. Pew Research Center. (2015). Americans’ Views About Data Collection and Security. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2015/05/20/americans-views-about-data-collection-and-security/

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