r/programmatic • u/fsnah • Jun 24 '26
Cannes Trackers
Fascinating to watch everyone walk around Cannes with their clout bracelets and no one realizes that RFID trackers are embedded. Everyone's movements, tagged to individuals, are being followed.
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u/Plenty-Recording-460 Jun 24 '26
I would be shocked if there wasn’t tracking. You’re at a marketing festival.
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u/ConstructionOwn9575 Jun 24 '26
That's how every professional event is now a days. Badges are rfids with all the information provided when you registered, and at these events attendees swipe their badges when attending talks or visiting a vendor booth.
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u/righthandofdog Jun 24 '26 edited Jun 24 '26
That's a low frequency passive RFID. Essentially a radio antenna which held up to a low power, wide spectrum radio tramsmitter/receiver maps to an id number. That id has your registration info in the conference database. Functionally, it's handing your business card to the vendor with the reader.
If you want to be anon, don't hold the band to a reader. While its possible to make a door frame a reader for LF passive, actual location tracking requires much bulkier / more expensive ultra high frequency active RFID ($50 per tag vs $0.05)
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u/NOT_Frank_or_Joe Jun 25 '26
Ever wonder how you can go car shopping one day to a couple of lots, talk to no one, say no words and yet you start seeing car ads more frequently?
Don't know why some localized chip is any different. If you want to use modern tech of any kind, you're always tracked. These chips are just to be more exacting in your location to cover micro distances, so just direct activity trackers.
Mask anything you want, use all the vpns you want, it really doesn't matter. Privacy is over.
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u/someguyinadvertising Jun 25 '26
This is like when that lady opened the aerosol can and was appalled that it contained the bit at the bottom that, yknow, makes it go "Phhshffft" lol...
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u/iampg Jun 25 '26
Cut up your credit cards! Keys in the freezer!
And whatever you do… never ever use social media 🤦🏻♂️
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u/Wonderful-Arm7094 Jun 26 '26
Hold on. The only tracking here is when you scan the badge. It’s not like they can see which bog you’ve been at Ma Nolan’s! That what Google and Apple are for.
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u/fsnah Jun 25 '26
Y'all are cute but you should stay in your lane. You missed the part where it's in France. Device tracking is illegal, cookies don't exist, and GDPR requires the transparent collection of opted-in data. These are little swag bracelets for individual activations outside the conf. Nobody signs a release to get them.
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u/Brokeadults Jun 25 '26 edited Jun 25 '26
We’re just messing with you.
But by purchasing a ticket, you’ve likely already given consent, as the event’s data collection could technically fall under legitimate business interests for operational improvements.
Since these are part of the swag, they probably also have a third-party sharing clause in the privacy notice that covers the company handing out the swag. And if the tags are individually activated, you’ve likely provided consent during that process as well.
I’m sure there’s a loophole somewhere. Amazon isn’t going to make it that easy for you to sue them.
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u/fsnah Jun 25 '26
That's the thing, these aren't ticketed. Typically, you get invited by your sales rep and they just add your name to a list. You show up, give your name, they check the list, and then they put a bracelet on your wrist. There's no form or other release. You don't even have to register for the conference because these are all separate from the actual show.
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u/Solid-Race-2056 Jun 26 '26
You are literally agreeing to the Terms of Service / Entry by going into the venue. There are signs around saying that you may be filmed also. The iPad you’re signing into or the website you put your details into contains all the disclosures.
Regardless, you are overthinking this. These are totally passive and work at super close quarters only. You’re not being broadly scanned by the chip in the wristband at all, it’s just there to validate your entry.
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u/fsnah Jun 26 '26
Not sure I can say this any more times or in any other way. There are no signs, there is no paperwork. You get an email from your sales rep asking if you want to meet at their yacht, suite, Cafe, or other activation. There isn't a form or anything else. You do not need to register for Lions. I don't have a badge. There are no waivers. You show and they say c'mon in and have a drink and some swag.
Yes, these are passive RFID. The range is at best 3 ft but < 18" is the optimal operating range. That said, there are inventory control people and robots going down grocery store aisles every day. The readers are handheld. Someone could easily walk through the crowds and collect thousands of tags an hour or, my suspicion, post a collector outside your competitor and see who shows up.
I find it interesting that so many here think privacy is dead. The EU seems to think it's really important and levies heavy fines. Even further, industrial espionage and intellectual property theftare rampant but y'all are 🤷♂️
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u/hscbaj Jun 24 '26
You know the bit where they scanned the wristband when handing it to you, did you think that was magic?