Short Pump Town Center ceases controversial cell phone tracking program

Short Pump Town Center is backpedaling this week after a controversial plan to collect anonymous data from shoppers’ phones this holiday season. Mall management company Forest City Commercial Management ceased collection of the data after one day amidst a flood of privacy concerns.

November 28, 2011; 4:49 PM • by Trevor Dickerson

Short Pump Town Center is backpedaling this week after a controversial plan to collect anonymous data from shoppers’ phones this holiday season. Mall management company Forest City Commercial Management ceased collection of the data after one day amidst a flood of privacy concerns.

The tracking system, manufactured by British company FootPath Technology, used antennas placed around the mall to collect a unique identification number from each cell phone within the mall and tracked the movement of the device to help retailers determine shopper traffic patterns and other behavior. No personally identifying information was ever collected through the system.

The trial run was also halted at Forest City’s other test market for the system, Promenade Temecula in California.

The story of Short Pump’s original plan to track shoppers from Black Friday through New Year’s Day made headlines worldwide in hundreds of online and print publications.

No word on whether the data collected by FootPath during the 24 hour period will be published.

November 28, 2011 4:49 PM 0