NYC Pay Phone Transmitters That Could Track Movements To Be Removed

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- The New York City government has scuttled a project that installed thousands of transmitters in pay phone booths that could track people's movements.

The private contractor Titan had previously received city approval to install 500 of the beacons across the city. The beacons emit signals that are picked up by smartphones.

They could be used to send ``push'' advertising onto people's cell phones. And they could be used to track the movements of the phone's owner.

The project was first reported Monday morning in a joint piece published by BuzzFeed and the New York Daily News.

But the city later announced in a statement that the beacons would be done away with

"Titan has been an important City partner in helping expand communications options for New Yorkers, from piloting free public WiFi to providing free calling on all its payphones across the five boroughs for three weeks after Hurricane Sandy," said a statement from the city. "While the beacons Titan installed in some of its phone for testing purposes are incapable of receiving or collecting any personally identifiable information, we have asked Titan to remove them from their phones. The beacons will be removed over the coming days."

Titan said in a statement that the beacons were not intended to track people, and were intended only to "understand how, and if, this technology works in dense urban areas."

But the firm said it would honor the city's request.

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