Cellphone tracking has been used in at least 1 Canadian mall, former employee says

A Canadian real estate company already under investigation for using facial recognition technology in malls may also be tracking the movement of shoppers using mobile phones.

A former employee of Cadillac Fairview told CBC News he was aware of at least one of the company's Canadian shopping centres that had a system installed to track cellphone movement throughout the mall to collect market research data.

• At least two malls are using facial recognition technology to track shoppers' ages and genders without telling

CBC News has agreed to keep the former employee's identity confidential. He worked directly for CadillacFairviewin security for more than three years, and was responsible for providing access for the system's installation in 2016.

He said he was told the system would monitor and note where each device, such as a cellphone,went within the centre, and how long it remained in any particular location, "whether you were just walking through the mall or whether you're spending hours there dropping thousands upon thousands of dollars."

Real estate company refused to confirm

Cadillac Fairviewdid not respond to repeated questions from CBC News about whether this system is still installed in its shopping centresand where it is used in Canada.

The company's online privacy policy says some propertiesare equipped with sensors and cameras used tomonitor foot traffic patterns that couldpredict "demographic information" about visitors during a shopping centre visit.

It also mentions tracking foot traffic using information such as a MAC address a unique number that identifies any device capable of connecting to Wi-Fi.

Cadillac Fairviewhad already acknowledged it usesfacial recognition software and camerasinmall directoriesto track shoppers' ages and genders without telling them.

• Company suspends use of mall directory cameras running facial recognition software
• Privacy commissioners to investigate use of facial recognition at Calgary malls

The admission came after a patronnoticed software running on one of the directories at Calgary's Chinook Centre and posted an image to social media site Reddit.

In an earlier email to CBC News on that issue, Cadillac Fairview's director of corporate communications, Janine Ramparas, said the company wassuspending use of those mall directory cameras in response to recently announced privacy commissioner investigations.

'They can combine the information and identify you'

Privacy experts toldCBCNews this type of tracking technology has existed and been in usefor years.

"When a person enters any property, they can be tracked by the signal and the unique identifications of their cellphone," said SharonPolsky, president of the Privacy and Access Council of Canada.

Her organization had previouslyaskedAlberta's privacy commissioner to investigate whether CadillacFairview'suse of facial recognition was violatinglaws.

"They can track exactly where you go, how long you stand in front of a shop window, how long you're in front of a particular display," said Polsky.

The privacy advocate saidit would be possible for facial recognition data to be cross-referenced with location tracking data in the future, if a company chooses to do so.

"Don't forget that Person X is holding Phone Y," said Polsky. "Because the information is available elsewhere, they can combine the information and identify you."

It's nobody's business where you go and what stores you shop at.- AnnCavoukian,Privacy by Design Centre of Excellenceat Ryerson University

Other experts say there could be unintended consequences from these technologies. They includeAnn Cavoukian, Ontario's former privacy commissioner who now leads the Privacy by Design Centre of Excellence at Ryerson University in Toronto.

"You might think no big deal, just counting footsteps, counting how many people are here and what stores, etc.," said Cavoukian.

"But when you link that with people's individual mobile phones, which are linked to their identity, and you're watching their movements you're tracking their movements throughout the mall and add facial recognition to that. I mean it's nobody's business where you goand what stores you shop at."

Mall signage does not provide details

Experts likeCavoukiansay being able to opt in and out of whether you are tracked on a property is key.

"I may not have a problem with people accessing that information about me, but others might. That's why you have to be the one to decide who has access to your information. It's gotta be on a consent basis."

Signageoutside CadillacFairviewshopping centres in Calgary did not mention location tracking or facial recognition specifically, but there is notice that the premises is video recorded for "safety and security."

If location tracking is taking place, there's no discernible information about it.

Entrances to both Calgary's Market Mall and Chinook Centre did not provide information on how to consent or opt out of possible location tracking within the premises, and on multiple visits to both Calgary properties,CBC News was unable to locate public information on location tracking posted inside or outsidethe mall.

Cadillac Fairview's privacy policy says it does not consider tracking your location throughout the mall to be "personal information, unless you have specifically identified yourself to us and provided consent."

According to Cavoukian,that may have been true in the past, but new technologies change things, especially given Cadillac Fairview's recent admission of using facial recognition in its facilities.

"The difference with the old-fashioned guy at the front of the store clicking ishe gets a count of the people who walked in, walked out," said Cavoukian.

"With these new technologies, you can make inferences about individuals on a personally identifiable basis, and when you add facial recognition to that, that's the most sensitive form of personal information."

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