Link: https://www.saltwire.com/nova-scotia/annapolis-valley/windsor-on-an-upward-trajectory-as-more-unique-visitors-drawn-to-downtown-cellphone-data-shows

I found this creepy article from Nova Scotia about tracking cellphone traffic. Apparently, the company hired to do the analysis can tell someone's age and income level from cellphone data.

That is creepy. I've been to Windsor dozens of times. I didn't know there was a downtown.

They do the same thing with buses in my city and it is "opt-out" which is unfair because you have to search everywhere to find out how to opt-out and then copy-paste your MAC address. Not very user-friendly...

Apparently, the company hired to do the analysis can tell someone's age and income level from cellphone data.

According to Environics own website they use cellular data in combination with other databases to infer those demographic signals.

It doesn't use only cell data to determine your age or income category.

I should have realized other data needs to be accessed to get someone's age and income.

Still, the cell data must have revealed the users' true identity in order for another database to be searched.

Downtown - blink and you'll miss it.

Providing a MAC address is a major hassle. Even worse when the phone randomizes it.

Not necessarily.

A phone that goes to a university campus for a few hours each day then to a mall for 4 hours every evening will imply a much different level of income than one that goes to bankers row on Bay Street during the day, and also goes to some international destination for a week at a time several times a year.

All without needing to know exactly who is paying the phone bill, or who is carrying the phone.

Downtown area is small. But lots of amazing food places, and A Casino if you like that sort of thing. Downtown used to be popular 20+ years ago but its been slowly atrophying with tons of closed businesses since

I did know about the food, but not the casino. I grew up about 30 minutes from Windsor and we did go every other weekend to eat.

Fair point.

You can track phones by their bluetooth mac even if you dont connect to anything.

It appears younger and wealthier people are discovering what downtown Windsor has to offer.

This has such a wholesome public-access cable vibe, I love it.

I can verify this. I spend far more then 4 hours on a university campus, and I'm certain they know that I'm poor as fuck.

Good point. I'm currently researching how GrapheneOS handles this. So far, its not looking good.

To be 100% un-trackable you need to put your phone in airplane mode or turn it off entirely.