This article was published on August 12, 2013

Rubbish news: London pulls the plug on smart bins that track passers-by


Rubbish news: London pulls the plug on smart bins that track passers-by

London-dwellers have scored a small victory in the battle against having their movements tracked.

As Quartz reports, the UK capital has put the buffers on a trial scheme that was using recycling bins to track passers-by through their mobile phones. Why would smart-bins want to track people? Well, so advertisers can better target messages at people recognized by the bins.

The bins were installed around London’s Square Mile area, and had caused some outcry from the public given that they recorded a unique identifier from devices that had WiFi enabled.

Check out Quartz’s initial report on launch of the scheme here, and the latest report below.

Quartz | London halts recycling bins tracking phones of passers-by

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