Westfield is watching.
A malfunctioning advertising screen at a Westfield shopping centre in Canberra has lifted the lid on the technology the mall giant is using to watch customers.
The photo published by News Ltd shows how small cameras on top of the ad screens detect shoppers’ faces and record age, gender and mood.
A Westfield spokesperson told news.com.au the data is collected for the benefit of customers:
“We collect data primarily to effectively manage and operate our Westfield centres,” she said.
“Our intention with any data that we collect is to be able to better understand our customers’ needs, and connect them with retailers in a more meaningful way.”
Meanwhile Tim Norton from Digital Rights Watch says customers need to be told they are being monitored in this way.
“Yes, there’s an argument there about making their experience better so that your shopping experience can be more targeted,” Mr Norton said…
“But unless the user is actually OK with that and they sign off on: ‘Yes I want to give you more data so that you can make my shopping experience better,’ than it is underhanded.
“They need to actually be very upfront and transparent about what they’re tracking and be open to their customers about that information,” he said.
