When you enter a store, your phone transmits information collected by marketing analytic firms to measure consumer traffic and frequency of visits. But a tweak in Apple’s upcoming iOS 8 will make it harder for retailers to generate a profile of your shopping behavior.
While scanning for Wi-Fi networks to connect to, cell phones send out a MAC (Media Access Control) address that has a unique identification number.
In-store devices monitor MAC addresses and then provide data to retailers. Because phones never actually connect to a Wi-Fi signal, users never consent to having their movements tracked; a point some feel violates their privacy rights.
Apple told developers that iOS 8 will automatically randomize MAC identifiers, as recently noted by Frederic Jacobs, a security researcher.
In iOS 8, “Wi-Fi scanning behavior has changed to use random, locally administrated MAC addresses,” Apple says. When scanning for available hotspots, “the MAC address used…may not always be the device’s real (universal) address.”
While removing MAC addresses won’t stop companies from tracking foot traffic and the length of time at displays, it will block companies from maintaining profiles of customer activity across multiple store visits.
iBeacon On The Horizon
Retail analytic marketing teams may have already tired of passive Wi-Fi tracking.
Rudd Davis, CEO of Swarm Mobile, says his company has shifted away from the practice because the information wasn’t all that useful. “We want to give the store the ability to interact with the customer through an interface,” he explains. “What we’ve found is that pure aggregate analytics that’s all anonymous- it’s not really that actionable.”
Swarm now uses iBeacon, Apple’s version of Bluetooth technology that has generated a buzz in location-based smartphone marketing. In contrast to MAC address monitoring, iBeacon receives full consent from consumers by requiring they first download the app before using the service.
While privacy advocates will applaud the protection of consumer data, many wondered if the MAC address randomizing in iOS8 will force retailers to switch to iBeacon.
But Apple isn’t stopping there. Also planned for iOS 8 is support for DuckDuckGo, an alternative search engine which doesn’t track user searches or internet history. Additionally, Apple is opening the iPhone 5s’s Touch ID authentication system for use by third-party apps, further enhancing security while increasing convenience.
Many agree that secretly tracking personal data is unethical and infringes on privacy laws. But is Apple interested in appeasing privacy advocates or simply forcing their own system on the market analytics industry? Apple Insider reported last week of a push to revamp iBeacon by piloting a program that will ping users walking near the Apple Store or Starbucks. It remains to be seen what the big picture is behind Apple’s planned security upgrades.
