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Ridgewood NJ, the ongoing battle between data collection and privacy has now arrived in Ridgewood’s Central Business District. At the heart of the debate is whether Ridgewood Guild should use smartphone data to track foot traffic patterns—especially when it involves children.
Some local residents have expressed concern about the Ridgewood Guild’s use of location data from smartphones. They argue that tracking people’s whereabouts, particularly kids, raises serious privacy issues. But supporters of the technology, and the company behind it, Placer.ai, argue that there is no cause for alarm.
What Is Placer.ai Doing?
Placer.ai, a startup valued at nearly $1.5 billion, specializes in AI-powered market research based on anonymized, aggregated location data from smartphones. This data is gathered from apps that users have opted into, and Placer.ai leverages it to provide insights into general foot traffic trends—not individual tracking.
Critics fear that such data collection could compromise personal privacy, especially when it comes to children in public spaces. However, Placer.ai’s proponents are quick to clarify that the company doesn’t access personally identifiable information (PII) or monitor specific individuals. Instead, it tracks larger patterns in foot traffic, helping businesses and public spaces better understand how people move through certain areas. The company also complies with stringent privacy laws like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).
Data Collection: Creepy or Useful?
The use of location data for analytics isn’t new. Many other firms, like Foursquare and Esri, have been doing it for years. These companies collect data through apps people willingly use, often without realizing the scope of the information being gathered. While some may find it unsettling, the data collected is anonymized to prevent individual tracking.
Location data has become a fundamental tool for many businesses. Retailers, event organizers, and real estate developers use insights from this data to understand customer behavior, optimize store locations, and even predict future trends. In Ridgewood’s case, the goal is to better understand foot traffic patterns, which could benefit local businesses by attracting more customers and enhancing the overall visitor experience.
The Privacy vs. Progress Debate
The debate in Ridgewood highlights the ongoing tension between privacy and technological innovation. On one hand, location data can provide valuable insights that help businesses thrive and ensure public spaces are designed for optimal use. On the other hand, the idea of our movements being tracked, even in an anonymized way, can feel like an invasion of privacy.
The real question is whether we, as a society, are comfortable with this trade-off. While companies like Placer.ai emphasize that they’re operating within the bounds of privacy laws and ethical standards, the concerns of Ridgewood residents reflect a broader unease about how much data is being collected—and what happens to it afterward.
Placer.ai , YouTube :
https://www.youtube.com/@placer_ai
As Ridgewood continues to explore these technologies, it’s clear that the community must find a balance between using data to improve local commerce and protecting the privacy of its residents, especially the younger members of the community.
Where do you stand on this issue? Should Ridgewood embrace data collection to boost business, or is privacy too high a price to pay? Let us know your thoughts!
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They know the name of any individual who is repeatedly tracked to a single-family residence by just looking up the property owner’s name. Thus, the data collection becomes individualized.
Gee, what could ever possibly go wrong with technology like this?
I agree to an extent..but..4 phones in the house – which one is the homeowners?
No one was given an opt in or out, so it is definitely a violation of ones privacy if they tracked people to their homes, banks and if they then did additional fact checking to see, for example, what online information there already is enough to start building profiles. Since monies weren’t exchanged and Ridgewood thought they were getting a great deal for a “free” survey, the company would then be allowed to keep your data and sell it to other companies and so on. Did the guild sign any kind of documentation with this company. If so, it should be disclosed.
What??? No Ridgewood is tracking us. That creepy mayor knows our where about????
Somehow I feel like PauLIE is in on this. He can track how many people visit IGTM. Can you opra the personal email of the mayor?
What is Wilday’s connection with placer.ai?
no connection – she just hates SK. She will chime in on every message that SK posts!
Horrible. Maybe a privacy lawsuit will work. Doubtful.
Best solution is not to own a smartphone. That’s how I handle it.
Children with phones are bring tracked by their apps. Shopping in Ridgewood is the least of their problems.
How can we opt out
You can’t totally opt out – if the phone company didn’t know where your phone was, you would not be able to receive a phone call. So the phone company has to track you.
But beyond that is the debate – how/if the phone company sells the data; or if you gave permission to have apps track you (and yes, you opted in when you just wizzed by those 6 page long terms-of-service agreements
that nobody reads and checked ‘I agree’.
Anyone with android phone – if you poke around a bit in your google account, you will find a day by day route of where your phone has been over the past 30 days. And yes, you did opt into that.
Turn off your location on your phone. Why do you have it on anyway?
I don’t carry my phone all weekend so does that mean they miss seeing me altogether?