Brookline kiosks track cell phone data for foot traffic

Kiosks in Brookline in the Boston area track data to determine foot traffic around the kiosks, according to a report from CBS News.

The kiosks are made by Soofa, a local company, and they are used to provide local messaging, such as promoting local information related to the Boston Marathon.

The systems monitor identifiers from cell phones that have their Wi-Fi switched on to help determine when individual users are nearby.

«It says I am here, and a clock that says I am here for a certain period of time. There is no personal identifiable information,» Peter Tran, chief information security officer with Infersight, an IT security company, said in the report. «With cell phones, users have to be aware that you are broadcasting out certain types of information, so the cell towers can authenticate you and know it's your cellphone. What you are normally broadcasting is some basic information about your hardware, your place in the network of AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile.»

Source: Kiosk Marketplace