The Privacy Commission has told chain stores, shopping centres, restaurants, banks and other businesses that they cannot spy on their customers through the free Wi-Fi they provide. L’Echo and De Tijd reported on the story on Thursday. Lots of businesses offer free Wi-Fi to their customers, and then use the data collected for marketing purposes. This technique is called “Wi-Fi tracking”.
In response to a parliamentary question from MP Jef Van den Bergh (Christian Democrats), the Privacy Commission said this practice is illegal. It noted the majority of customers don’t know they’re being “spied” on. Just letting them know would not be enough to remain within the law.
The Commission says the customer has to give their consent before their data can be collected for marketing purposes.
(Source: Belga)
