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It does seem a bit exaggerated:

"In its current iteration, a Gimbal beacon requires a third-party app to trigger advertisements, and requires those apps to receive 'opt-in' permission from users in order to collect data and send notifications. (Users, of course, also need to have Bluetooth enabled.) ... Gimbal-powered apps may collect your current location, the time of day you passed the beacon, and details about your device."

If the beacons are doing anything more, it is not reported in this article.



It is however a rather small step to such a 3. party app being bundled with your branded phone, which you've opt-ed into by buying the phone.


Then let's wait for that step to happen before jumping to conclusion.


Are there any rules or precedent preventing this? Or is it a chicken-and-egg not-enough-beacons-out-there-to-make-it-worth-it type situation?

One smells like conclusions are a bit premature, the other smells more like inevitability.


If you turn on wifi tether mode, you are broadcasting your unique Mac address. Not sure if you have just BT headset running, can they sniff an unique address from the air way.




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