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This Recycling Bin Is Stalking You - Siraj Datoo - The Atlantic Cities, via @jomc.

Recycling bins in London are monitoring the phones of passers-by, so advertisers can target messages at people whom the bins recognize.

Renew, the startup behind the scheme, installed 100 recycling bins with digital screens around London before the 2012 Olympics. Advertisers can buy space on the internet-connected bins, and the city gets 5 percent of the airtime to display public information. More recently, though, Renew outfitted a dozen of the bins with gadgets that track smartphones. […]

“From our point of view, it’s open to everybody, everyone can buy that data,” Memari says. “London is the most heavily surveillanced city in the world…As long as we don’t add a name and home address, it’s legal.” […]

In the first month after installing the trackers, Renew says it picked up over a million unique devices. On July 6, a record day, its bins identified 106,629 people, taking note of their presence 946,016 times, according to the company.