M god what next, is this not an invasion of your privacy, switch mobiles off then, i suppose that will work. Are customers warned this is happening as they go in the shop, If not stay away from these particular shops.

jas, Cumbria, England

Seeing as your mobile phone can be used as a tracking device remember not to take it with you into the shopping malls or better still don't shop in the malls that use these surveillance devices, maybe then they will get the message.

Pauline, Giuldford, Surrey

say a bout big brother watching you it is getting woase than that in britain

graham, hull, yorkshire

Will turning your phone "OFF" when you enter the shopping center defeat this? Think of it; as a bonus, there will be no more annoying "get home right now" calls :)

roseman, San francisco, usa

They can't track it back to you? Yes they can! As soon as you swipe your credit card,

Justin, Virginia, USA

Will we now know where the terroists are?

Graham , Littlehampton,

All information is for sale. For the company to say that there is "no way" for them to tie personal information to the IMEI number is not correct and only the first step. This technology has a large potential for invasive use but people will roll over and ignore it.

rob, Winnipeg, Canada

It's just another way for business to find the best way to exploit the customer to make more money.
The government won't oppose this as it will help them control people.
Your freedom and privacy are incovenient obstacles to be got round one way or another, for power and tax ,or profit.

Laurence, Southampton, UK

My Phone Insurance Company, who happen to be my bank, record the IMEI Number of my phone to prevent fraudulant claims. They also have my personal details. So to say only phone companies can link the two is incorrect.

Joss, Swindon, England

Surely it is for the individual to agree to 'market research'. It is not something to be imposed by retailers or software engineers (regardless as to whether any link can be made to other personal data). I would have thought it wise to review the decision of the unelected Information Commissioner's Office and the criteria which they apply when considering devices of this sort.

James Hasson, Yorks, United Kingdom

To link the IMEI number to your personal information, you just need an authority that has an interest -- whichsoever, strong enough to be able to get the data from the shopping center. They will also get the data from the operators and matching them won't be a problem anymore.

Anton Clave, Worfelden, Germany

almost all phones today have internal batteries that allow the phone to be picked up in any location

josh, Sydney, australia

To link this data to personal information would require the manufactureers, Path Intelligence, to have access to the records of the phone providers. This is access that they simply do not have. Ideas of face recognition software and links to credit card companies are a pretty far reach.

Jim, Dublin, Ireland

If they want this type of data for their commercial purposes then they should give people a RFID tag as they enter the centre and pay them a small sum for being involved in the research.

Anyway... would switching the phone off be sufficient to stop this, or do you have to remove the battery?

Tim, Norwich, UK

It's all very well saying there's no way of tieing an IMEI number to an individual: but considering these are being placed in retail environments, and in retail environments people tend to *buy* things - with their credit or debit card - it's not much of a stretch to see it tied together to ID you.

Ric, Manchester, Cheshire

Another example of stealth tactics used in the guise of 'market research'. Whose business is it where I shop or what I shop for but my own? I just hate the arrogance and guile of it all. If the market researchers want this information they should ask for it.

Rob Mew, London,

What do they mean there is no way they can link the data to an individual? The IMEI is a direct link to personal details for contract handsets as the mobile companies can get a name and address from an IMEI.

How are they getting the IMEI without pretending to be a mobile cell?

Dave, Manchester, UK

(how do they get the IMEI?) if they are running their own mobile cell then they (or whoever has access to the system, i.e. hackers) can potentially intercept calls and text messages.

Dave, Manchester, UK

So, just take out the battery when you're going shopping. Easy.

Jeff, Manchester,

I'm of the opinion that I have plenty of things to hide, in particular my personal tastes and interests. I only want to divulge them upon my will and to the persons I chose. I hope these systems will never come to Europe (where I live), and if they come I hope they will be explicity advertised.

Art Rambo, None, Belgium

So they can't, for example, work out when you are at the till, and combine it with your credit card / loyalty card details to find out who you are?

Jonathan Bryce, Reading, Berkshire

I have several, old spare phones & SIM cards. I will now always take them shopping with me so I look like 5 people travelling together. Maybe I should hide phones in strategic locations (near a bank? In the ladies underwear section of M&S?). Then I can collect them an hour later as I'm leaving!

Ian, Glasgow, UK

These surveillance data have financial value and their collection is not voluntaty. As a shop customer I demand payment from the shops using this system. Why let them earn money through my shop usage data without giving me a share of my data's value?

Nikolaos S. Karastathis, Athens, Greece

For the love of God! Enough!

Rob, bristol,

With a location accuracy of a few metres a personal profile can be widened well beyond the cellphone identity by linking with cctv to gather images of faces at choke points (corridors, doorways) or with transactions at counters (credit cards, loyalty cards).

David French, Wellington, NZ

"There's absolutely no way we can link the information [...] to the individual"

If you make a purchase with plastic, they know it's you. Some people don't like being tracked when shopping for personal / adult items. Plus, someone's eventually going to leak / get hacked / "black market" the data.

Ivan, Toronto, Canada

The big question here is, do they have the permission of the mobile phone network operator?

Reception of radio signals is covered by the Wireless Telegraph Act 2006. I beleive this is illegal unless they have a license from OFCOM or the permisson of the mobile operators.

Robert Smith, Bromley, London

If an individual did something like this, he/she would be arrested.

But a corporation is doing it, so it is considered innovation.

Doug Brenner, St Paul, USA

"I am of the view that if I have nothing to hide, then I have nothing to be concerned about." D B London

Then you are on a hiding to nothing.
Orwell's 1984 is fast approaching and apathy cannot stop it!

Ian C, Manchester,

Surely this is no different to the technology that makes online tracking possible such as Hitwise? ISPs pass on your data to the likes of Hitwise and build profiles from it as a result.

Liberty are correct in saying a personal profile could be built if the data is married with phone companies record but the same could be said of so many other tracking systems.

Think CCTV and face recognition, or CCTV on our roads and DVLAs database.

D uckive, Bristol, UK

Once again the phrase "the inoccent have nothing to fear" is banned about as if it means somthing.
the innocent have everything to fear, one by one we ignore these intrustions into our lives, it seems a little thing now but if we keep it up we wont have any place to hide, innocent or not.

Ben, Brighton, uk

I am of the view that if I have nothing to hide, then I have nothing to be concerned about. I would welcome department stores and malls that aims to cater for what I want.

I think this device may also be used to track employees working in shopping malls - they are not difficult to isolate!

D B London, London, London

The comments on bluetooth and wifi show the motive behind this system. I do not consent to bluetooth spam therefore I turn BT off unless I need BT. Now I will have to turn off my mobile or not use certain shops when this system is used to try and track me without my consent. The gsm operator can map imei to msisdn.

Andrew , Aachen, Germany

Hey, look on the bright side. Maybe it will encourage some of those people who are worried about anyone except the Mafia having their personal details to turn off their phones while shopping.

Result!

Ian Kemmish, Biggleswade, UK

One can easily imagine how the authorities in China could use that . . . . .or in America.

Andrew, Hong Kong, China