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Helsinki Airport Installs World’s First Real-Time Passenger Tracking System
All mobile phones logged into the Wi-Fi network at Helsinki Airport will be monitored by an in-house tracking system that identifies passengers’ real-time movements.
The technology has been criticized by privacy advocate groups, but is said to be aimed at monitoring crowds and preventing bottle-necking at the airport, which sees around 15 million passengers a year, Bloomberg reports.
“The fact that my movements are tracked is a scarier thought than someone knowing which websites I visit,” Antti Tikkanen, director of security response at the software maker F-Secure Oyj (FSC1V), told Bloomberg.
About 150 white boxes, each the size of a wireless internet router, have been placed at various points around the airport. Equipped with tracking technology from the Finland-based retail analytics company Walkbase, each device is designed to collect the “unique identifier numbers” of all mobile phones which have Wi-Fi access switched on. Users wanting access to the WiFi network will be notified of the monitoring system before they log in to the network.
Passengers can also “opt-in” for other services, by logging into the network via an application such as an airline app or retail store app, to receive sales offers from the airport’s 35 shops and 32 restaurants and cafes, in addition to any relevant flight information.
Currently at its initial phase, the full tracking system is expected to be in place by the end of this year which could enable shops to specifically target passengers that are within their vicinities, such as a deli that could alert a passenger walking by of a certain item on sale.
All data collected is said to be in aggregated form, preventing any personal information from being seen by Finavia Oyi, the Finnish Civil Aviation Administration operating the airport, as the software discards any unique identifiers of devices, claims Tuomas Wuoti, the CEO at Walkbase.
But software security analysts find it hard to believe “location tracking is only left at statistics” levels.
“The fact that my movements are tracked is a scarier thought than someone knowing which websites I visit,” Antti Tikkanen, director of security response at the software maker F-Secure Oyj (FSC1V), told Bloomberg.
The technology was also met with concern from customers at the US-based department store retailer Nordstrom where it was tested last year, who criticised it for monitoring unwary customers.
The post Helsinki Airport Installs World’s First Real-Time Passenger Tracking System appeared first on Now The End Begins.
Source: http://www.nowtheendbegins.com/blog/?p=23814
I guess they are not very liberal. http://bit.ly/1q6m9I5
I wonder if anybody has figured out YET….. eliminate yourself out of the herd of sheep that are tracked, exploited, and abused…..
THROW THAT CELL PHONE INTO THE NEXT RIVER/LAKE/DEEP HOLE IN THE DIRT.. that you find.
And if you have resisted the temptation to obtain a cell phone, congratulate yourself and feel sorry for the sorry fools that got sucked into this insanity~!!!
I live in south wales UK, i have seen recently a large number of privately owned passenger jets flying due north, it makes me wonder if there is a refuge for the extremely rich to go to in the north so they can avoid the war that is about to hit europe.
The placement of a passenger tracking facility would be beneficial in monitoring exactly who is in the airport and where they are if their is some sort of level of secrecy they are trying to maintain.
How do i know they are private aircraft?, an app called flight radar 24, shows all flights world wide if the aircraft has a transponder it shows up. And over the last few days, there are many private jets, not learjets but larger pasenger jets with no identifiable info other than “Private aircraft” flying north.