Use of phone-tracking technology in shopping centers set to increase

Australia - We are used to cameras watching our every move, but what about having your phone tracked when you go to the shops or the CBD (Central Business District)?

More and more shopping centers and councils around Australia are already doing it - working out where people are going and how they get there.

 

Photo: Companies can track phones by scanning for WiFi signals 

or by intercepting mobile phone network signals. (ABC News: Simon Brown)

With the technology you do not get to opt in and you do not have to be connected to a WiFi network.

There are two different approaches to tracking the phones. The Inhouse Group system scans WiFi signals given off by smartphones to pinpoint a customer's location.

Another product from the UK - FootPath by Path Intelligence - intercepts mobile phone network signals.

Neither is able to access any content stored on your phone. (more)