Imagine walking past a billboard that automatically spits out an ad based upon something you had been searching for on your smartphone or tablet. Some might think it was cool, others kind of creepy. U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer seems to think it falls into the creepy category. Schumer is calling for a federal investigation into what some call "spying billboards'' - ad spaces that target specific customers based on information it mines from people's cellphone data. Schumer says a person's phone should not become "a James Bond-like personal tracking device"' for companies to gather information about people.
He is asking the Federal Trade Commission to investigate whether the advertising technique is a deceptive trade practice because he says most people do not realize their location data is being monitored.
Clear Channel Outdoor Americas spokesman Jason King said in a statement Sunday its RADAR program used for billboard advertising has existed for years and is based on anonymous information.
The outdoor advertising company says it works with partner companies, including AT&T, to match aggregated location data. It can then cater ads to specific consumers based on the demographics of passers-by and determine if the people eventually end up at the advertiser's stores. It says individual consumers cannot be identified.
Clear Channel Outdoor operates more than 675,000 billboards throughout the world.