British marketing startup Renew was ordered on Monday to stop detecting and collecting data from the smartphones of pedestrians in downtown London.
Renew installed more than a dozen electronic data recycling bins on the streets of London’s financial district. These devices can detect and collect data from the smartphones of passers-by. In one week after the installation of the recycling bins, Renew collected about 4 million valid data points, all of which were collected by the bins through the MAC addresses of smartphones with Wi-Fi enabled.
The local regulatory agency of the City of London has ordered Renew to immediately cease its data collection activities and has reported the issues to the UK Information Commissioner.
In an open letter, Kaveh Memari, CEO of Renew, said that to avoid public concern, the company has suspended data collection and stated that the data collected by Renew is currently stored anonymously.
Renew manages a total of 200 recycling bins, which appear as electronic displays capable of showing advertisements, news, and traffic information. In June this year, Renew published an article on its official website stating that the purpose of collecting data was to provide an analysis tool for the company's clients and retailers to help them target consumers with ads in the future. When Renew's business was halted, it was only conducting initial experiments in data collection. However, such data could potentially be used for personalized advertising in the future if developed further.
Niri Shan, head of media at British law firm Taylor Wessing, said that Renew's data recycling practices may have violated UK privacy laws and the Data Protection Act.
Nick Pickles, director of the British democracy organization Big Brother Watch, said: "I am glad that the London municipal government agencies have stopped this kind of behavior, but we still need to understand how such personal data recycling is achieved."
Pickles said: "Through such data collection systems, it can be seen that some companies have been able to use advanced technology to make personal data collection easier. It can also be seen that relevant departments need to strengthen their protection of personal data."