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These days, you can be tracked even by a smart phonetracking recycle bin. Renew, a London startup company, uses recycling bins with Wi-Fi to track various smart phones that pass on the street. If you are a smartphone user who gets to traverse some streets in London, then you'd find that this crazy possibility is actually a reality.

What Are These Smart Phone Tracking Recycle Bins?

These cutting-edge yet creepy recycle bins come with digital screens where advertisers can get their ads placed for a certain amount to be paid. A hundred of these smartphone tracking recycle bins were installed around the streets of London which led to the 2012 Summer Olympics. It was just recent when the company upgraded about a dozen of those and this time with devices that can track smartphone identification numbers whose Wi-Fi connections are switched on.

The smartphone tracking recycle bins cannot identify the details about the owner of the smartphone, but it can recognise the manufacturer and model, whether it is a Samsung or an iPhone for one. Other things it can record is the owner's route and the speed of his or her movement. It can also know whether the same smartphone owner passes by on the succeeding days.

Its Real Purpose

Renew states that the smartphone tracking recycle bins are meant to measure the market share of smartphone users for the greater purpose of "targeted advertising." This means that the recycle bins can change the ads it shows for a certain passerby to target the exact market it can reach to.

Where The Problem Sets in and How Renew Solved It

According to a group of European data protection regulators, the smartphone tracking recycle bins are recording personal data as per the Article 29 Working Party. This means that getting such data still needs permission from the owner before even capturing it.

However, Renew got away with it as they were able to highlight their purpose of sole research which can be rendered exemption for, according to the UK Data Protection Act 1998.

So when you travel the streets of London, keep a healthy peace of mind and stop your paranoia when you see smartphone tracking recycle bins. You can choose to opt out of their tracking via the Presence Orb Web site which handles the analytics for the project.