By Kaitlyn Stone
When George Orwell’s 1984 was published, someone being able to track your every move was a scary thought, but it seemed to be outside the realm of possibility at the time. Someone monitoring the most intimate details of our lives simply wasn’t a huge concern for most people because technology was not advanced enough for this to be a legitimate possibility. Fast forward to today, and not only is this a very real issue that we are faced with, but we know that if technology continues to advance in the way it has since George Orwell’s time, there may soon be a day when the very intimate details about our everyday lives will be accessible to anyone with the right technology.
A new patent obtained by the Walt Disney Company shows that technology may be advancing towards this day even sooner than we imagined. The patent is for a system that will allow Disney to identify how guests move around the park by tracking their shoes. The system consists of special sensors that take a picture of a guest’s shoe, detailing the color, style, and tread. This picture is then uploaded to a cloud system to be accessed by other sensors throughout the park to identify the particular guest and monitor the attractions they visit and the way they move about the park. The system also includes robots roaming about the park that guests will be able to interact with. Guests will be able to submit personal information such as the names and ages of the guests in the party, favorite attractions and characters, and their hometown. The robot will identify the individual guest by matching the shoe and initiate a personalized interaction using this information. The system is intended to improve guest experiences while also collecting data for the company on how guests move about the park and which routes between rides are more frequently used. Why do all of this through shoes you ask? Because Disney decided that tracking their guests through retinal or fingerprint identification was “too invasive.”
This is not Disney’s first swing at this kind of data collection either. Disney has been using Radio Frequency Identification technology for several years in their Magicband program, which includes tracking guest movement via an RFID bracelet that serves as a park ticket, room key, fast pass, and credit card while collecting personal information about the guest wearing the bracelet to enhance their vacation.
“Big Data” is a term given to the collection and analysis of large amounts of information and data, typically personal information. Big data is being used and collected in almost every aspect of our digital lives. Your social media usage, online shopping habits, app store purchases, and Google searches are all used to collect information about your lifestyle habits and personal preferences. While this has been going on for years, recent technology is now allowing companies, like Disney, to collect this information from your presence in the “real world” as well.
With the rise of big data, the government has raised concerns about potential privacy issues. While the main concern is that these massive amounts of data may fall into the wrong hands if not protected correctly, another concern is that individuals deserve to know what information about them is being collected and how it may be used. One of the advantages to big data is that the information that is collected can be used in a variety of different ways, including ways that may seem completely unrelated to the industry or reason for which it was originally collected. This poses a problem on how consent is obtained. When you consent to allow a phone app to access your location, are you also consenting to that information being used to determine what stores are most popular in a particular geographic location?
Most people are unaware of the types of information that are collected about them and what rights they have to control that information. It is not hard to imagine that most people visiting Disney World will not know that their footwear is tracking them and that their personal information is being collected. How do we determine whether these guests have given their informed consent to allow Disney to use this information? Walt Disney’s current privacy statement for the Magicband program does make it clear that guests may opt out of this system. For those that do choose to participate, Disney states that the Disney family of companies will only use the information. However, it is still unclear how guests would be able to opt-out of the proposed shot-tracking technology if implemented. How will a camera differentiate between someone who chooses to participate and someone who would rather not have a robot take pictures of their feet?
For all these potential concerns though, there are substantial benefits to this program. Imagine your child is separated from the rest of your party. This program would allow Disney to track where in the park they are located and where they may be likely to go next. This same method could allow Disney to identify and locate people that are potential security threats. Currently, this system makes sacrificing a little personal privacy seem like a small price to pay in exchange for the safety of our families.
One thing is for certain: big data is changing the way our world works. And this new patent from Disney shows just how prevalent big data can be in every aspect of our lives. While it has yet to be seen whether or not Disney will actually implement this system in their parks (Disney files a lot of patents every year, and only a few of them end up being put to use), it shows that Orwell’s imaginary world where hidden cameras track your every move may not be that far away.
Student Bio: Kaitlyn Stone is a second year law student and a self-confessed Disney fanatic. She is a member of the Journal of High Technology Law and the Director of Media for the Sports and Entertainment Law Association.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this blog are the views of the author alone and do not represent the views of JHTL or Suffolk University Law School.
