Transport for London will track passengers' phones as part of a study
The organization will not have access to any user identifiable information. They will simply log connection requests by the users' MAC addresses. For those not familiar, the MAC address is a unique code for each and every network device on the planet, be it on a smartphone, computer or router.
Another use for the data would be to better assess the value of different advertisement spots across metro stations. This way, the London Underground will be able to optimize its income from advertisement and use the higher revenue for better support of the whole subway network.
The CTO at Transport for London, Shashi Verma, commented the trial.
This short trial will help us understand whether Wi-Fi connection data could help us plan and operate our transport network more efficiently for customers. Historically, if we wanted to know how people traveled, we would have to rely on paper surveys and manual counting, which is expensive, time consuming and limited in detail and reliability. We hope the results of this trial will enable us to provide customers with even better information for journey planning and avoiding congestion.
The trial will start November 21 and users who want to opt-out from it will have to disable their Wi-Fi during transit.
via Engadget
Things that are NOT allowed: