
How I Let Disney Track My Every Move - jgrahamc
https://gizmodo.com/how-i-let-disney-track-my-every-move-1792875386
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silverlight
If you're in Disney World, it's safe to assume Disney is tracking you to some
degree, Magic Band or no. They have staff. They have cameras everywhere. You
sign up for Fast Pass and you buy their food. This isn't some government
agency tracking you in your home or in the street where you have a reasonable
expectation of privacy.

My guess is the vast majority of people appreciate the convenience of
automatically getting a photo of themselves on a ride. To pull out another
example of putting the tracker in the ears hats for kids, please tag my kid
every way you can while we're there. My fear of losing them in a busy park far
outweighs my concern that you know I took them on the Pooh Bear ride.

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mgamache
I have no problem with Disney tracking me on their property while I am there.
Do we know what happens to the fingerprints and photos after we leave? In
isolation, the Disney tracking is innocuous even cool, but it comes with risk
that the data will be stored / forwarded to entities of which we are unaware.
Sorry if I am unnecessarily alarmist. I visited Disney back a few years ago
(pre Snowden) and mortified my wife by declining the fingerprint tracking (had
to talk with a 'supervisor'). I am not sure you can decline these days.

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robocaptain
This is an important point.

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LeoPanthera
The Magic Band is amazing. We spent our anniversary at Disney World and the
thing is a payment method, your park tickets, your room keys, and also holds
your fast passes.

I had no expectations of privacy in a public theme park and I'm not sure
anyone else should either.

They made the visit so much better. Would use again.

~~~
joezydeco
I really enjoyed having the band on my wrist the entire afternoon at the pool
and not having to worry about losing my room key in the towel bin or carrying
wet cash to the snack bar.

I actually was more impressed with the RFID drink cups and mugs that are
rolling out at some of the resorts:

[http://www.disneyfoodblog.com/disney-refillable-
mugs/](http://www.disneyfoodblog.com/disney-refillable-mugs/)

[http://www.validfill.com/product/](http://www.validfill.com/product/)

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craigkerstiens
The article pretty heavily misses a lot of the points that many guests view as
a benefit. Had they not been evacauted from splash mountain they would have
had a photograph of their exact moment before going down the plume. Similarly
certain restaurants know where you're sitting and deliver food based on the
magic bands. Recently actually when riding on Haunted mansion it knew we were
from California and had a hitch hiking ghost looking to head to California.

It's not to say they're not tracking you, but the tracking especially in such
a closed city/community shows some of the positive smooth experiences that can
be delivered when you know all those details about a person.

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apaprocki
I'm in Disney right now using the band for everything and from the consumer
point of view it is great. Don't have any misconceptions about it -- at the
"Be Our Guest" lunch you order via touch screen and then they tell you to sit
anywhere you want in the cavernous three joined dining halls. Magically your
food finds you quickly without ever speaking to a human. Why? Because you're
in an enchanted castle, duh!

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dsfyu404ed
Magic Band is a great example of consumer tracking done right. The band is not
a biometric, it doesn't require an app that tracks you at all other times and
it used to actually improve service, not just serve up adds and 10% coupons.

~~~
cookiecaper
Fingerprint scans are mandatory for all adult guests seeking to enter the
parks. The biometric is linked to the ticket permanently to prevent ticket
sharing. This is true whether you use the Band or a card at the turnstile.

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michaelbuckbee
The article doesn't ask this, but I think it's kind of obvious: is this the
future we want everywhere?

The majority of us are already carrying around personally identifiable
smartphones with both long and short range antennas. The tech to both do the
tracking and to the phones themselves are getting cheaper every year.

Would we be ok going to a local restaurant, tapping to pay and then they just
find us? Or with Amazon's (prototype) wander in, put stuff in a bag and wander
out stores?

Heck even the just passed "make your ISP data available to marketers" is I'm
sure couched in this this same manner: we'll make things easier, we'll show
you better ads, etc.

Disneyland feels more like a prototype of what to come than anything else.

~~~
eridius
Disneyland is a small integrated ecosystem and is entirely voluntary. I think
it's quite reasonable for Disney to keep tabs on all of their guests while
they're in the park. But that same level of surveillance doesn't belong out in
the public.

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greggman
I went to Disneyworld a month ago. My first thought when they scanned my
finger prints was "bet that was forwarded to the government so they can easily
unlock my phone"

As for why they do it, it's to make sure you don't share a pass. Buy 2 passes,
2 people go in. 1 person comes out with 2 passes. Goes back in with extra
person, repeat.

They don't scan you on the way out. They could but it would be annoying (and
maybe illegal?) to have to line up to get out of the parks.

~~~
cyberpunk
I'm pretty much at a loss for words.. Disneyworld scanned your fingerprints?
You let them? What happens if you say no?

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NeutronBoy
> What happens if you say no?

They don't let you in

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cyberpunk
I can't even really put into words how crazy that is. How long this been going
on and why are people putting up with this? Why isn't this a huge controversy?
Am I in the minoriy by being completely shocked by this?

I wouldn't let my government do this to me without a court order I could
challenge, and there's a children's theme park doing this thousands of times
daily with no opposition?

This wouldn't be possible in europe.

~~~
StephenConnell
I was just thinking that Sea World San Diego took finger prints Las summer
when we went. I googled it and on the first result there is a comment from
2007 from someone mentioning the same.

[http://www.fodors.com/community/united-states/borrowing-
tick...](http://www.fodors.com/community/united-states/borrowing-tickets-for-
seaworld.cfm)

~~~
cyberpunk
I'm not full on tinfoil hat, but.. but.. I mean.. Uhh.

WHAT?

Maybe I'm more paranoid than most, but I've definately been getting more
defensive about my privacy in the last two years or so. I don't do social
media, I at least tell my phone not to do location stuff (I have no idea if it
obeys this) and noscript etc etc. Even before that, though, giving
fingerprints away without being forced to do so is completely mind bending to
me. I would _never_ do that.

Maybe I would have once before I got more jaded about this kind of business,
but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't. I find it especially toxic that they'll refuse
entry if you don't do it.. It's making you chose between your crying children
and a ruined holiday vs giving away one of the only things that can physically
identify you to a random corp.

I used to not care so much about these things, but then I started working for
a big marketing/tracking/data broker company. Going from 'Yeah, I know this
stuff is going on since I read the tech news' to actually building that stuff
and seeing the kind of data avail would make anyone take similar steps..

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tonetheman
I have been to Disney quite a bit and I find the bands amazing. And yes I
realize I am being tracked. But there is something magical when you get on the
haunted house ride and the ghosts know you...

Super use of the tech for entertainment.

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wfunction
What could you possibly be doing that is so private on Disney premises and
that makes you freak out about tracking? They know you're in the park, they
might as well know when you're in the bathroom or eating lunch or taking a
ride. It's not like they're tracking you after you leave (or are they?)...

~~~
clouddrover
> _What could you possibly be doing that is so private on Disney premises and
> that makes you freak out about tracking?_

I think it's more the principle of the thing. Why would you want to be tagged
and tracked like an animal? I wouldn't want to be.

I agree with Edward Snowden: "When you say I don’t care about the right to
privacy because I have nothing to hide, that is no different than saying I
don’t care about freedom of speech because I have nothing to say or freedom of
the press because I have nothing to write."

~~~
wfunction
> Why would you want to be tagged and tracked like an animal? I wouldn't want
> to be.

If that's how you think I should look at it, then, actually, yeah, I do. I
have a huge problem with the way some animals are tagged and tracked, so if
this bears any resemblance to it, it's only fair we go through it too. Not
that it actually does, though.

~~~
wingerlang
> I have a huge problem with the way some animals are tagged and tracked

What is the issue with this?

~~~
wfunction
>> I have a huge problem with the way some animals are tagged and tracked

> What is the issue with this?

Totally off-topic, not going to start a discussion on it, sorry.

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TazeTSchnitzel
Previously:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9177105](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9177105)

(This is a longer article about the history of the thing.)

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emmab
If you use android, take a look at
[https://www.google.com/maps/timeline](https://www.google.com/maps/timeline)

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breakingcups
What would happen if you snuck in a jammer? Would half the park just shut
down?

