In-store tracking tech companies agree to customer privacy code

A group of in-store tracking technology companies have agreed to a code of conduct that will let customers know when they’re being tracked and how to opt-out. Stores using the technologies of the companies that signed onto the code will have to post “conspicuous signage” that customers are being tracked and must provide “a central opt-out site for consumers,” according to the statement announcing the code of conduct. Additionally, the tech companies that have signed onto the code face limitations on how the data is used and for how long it is retained. Under the code, the companies must have customer consent to collect personal data.

Jules Polonetsky, executive director of the Future of Privacy Forum, said that the code is “comprehensive,” one that provides standards that require companies “to de-identify data, to provide consumers with effective choices to not be tracked and to explain to consumers the purposes for which data is being used.”