Franken presses Euclid for information on consumer tracking technology

Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) on Wednesday asked Euclid Analytics for more information about its "troubling" consumer tracking technology that monitors people's smartphone signals without their knowledge.

Franken, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee's privacy subpanel, said he is concerned that the company's tracking technology is being used to analyze people's activity in stores without their permission. He noted that consumers must visit the company's website in order to opt-out of this tracking.

Franken's letter comes after The New York Times reported on the company's ability to track people offline by using the Wi-Fi antennas in stores to pick up the signals on people's smartphones and other devices. Euclid's tracking technology can observe how many shoppers come into a store, how long they stay there and which aisle they walked down, The Times reported.

In a letter sent to Euclid CEO Will Smith, Franken asked the company to answer a set of sixteen questions about its business practices, including when it tracks consumers and the type of information it collects about smartphone owners, whether it has mechanisms in place to protect people's data, and if it has plans to sell or rent this data about consumers' shopping habits to data brokers or other entities.

"Recent news reports suggest that Euclid’s technology has tracked 50 million unique smartphones or other WiFi-enabled devices. All of this would suggest that the movements of millions of Americans have been tracked in your clients’ stores without those consumers’ permission," Franken writes. "I find this troubling." 

While Franken noted that the company uses a method known as hashing to protect the unique identifiers on consumers' phones and only discloses anonymous aggregate consumer data to clients, he argued that "Americans have a fundamental right to not be tracked without their consent—especially in the real, 'offline' world where they are less likely to expect it.'"

In response, Smith told The Hill that the company has baked privacy protections into its product from the start and continues to build upon them. He said Euclid provides its clients with anonymous data that's presented in an aggregated form, so it's not focused on individual device owners.

On its website, Euclid says it only picks up a consumers' mobile phone signal if they have a Wi-Fi enabled phone and the Wi-Fi setting is turned on. The company adds that the reports it provides to retailers "do not include any representation of individual behavior, nor do we attempt to link any data to individual people." The company says it only collects basic device information that is emitted from Wi-Fi enabled phones and it does not collect any "sensitive data," such as who the device owner is, what websites they visit or who they call.  

Euclid says the type of data it collects can help retailers reduce waitlines at cash registers, inform them about the number of new customers that came into their store, or help make products easier to find on shelves, according to its website.

Franken asked for Euclid to submit its responses by Apr. 1.

— This post was updated at 7:48 p.m.