Advertisers Track Consumer's Commutes For Billboard Sales
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DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - It is creepy, it is intrusive and it is now happening in North Texas.
Advertisers are now mining cell phone data from cars and routes home to help sell billboards specifically catered to consumers.
It is called "Radar" and Clear Channel with the help of AT&T are now using the information to sell ads.
The electronic billboards people see could start flipping to interests based on the data.
"I find the whole thing kind of creepy. Yet I use Facebook, Google, all of these guys," said Allen Gwinn, a tech expert and professor at Southern Methodist University's Cox School of Business.
It will work kind of like the ads consumers see that cater to their interests on social media said Gwinn. He said companies are not specifically looking at one person's interests, but they are looking for patterns.
"This isn't a Minority Report kind of thing. In order to do that, you'd have to change the billboard 50 times as second," said Gwinn.
AT&T released a statement regarding the action.
"Customer privacy is a fundamental commitment at AT&T. We only provide aggregate and anonymous statistics, and we have strict controls to ensure it is used properly," wrote a spokesperson.
Gwinn suggests anyone who is concerned to write to their cell phone provider.
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