Schumer: Probe Billboards Using Phone Data to Track Shoppers

NEW YORK— A U.S. senator is calling for a federal investigation into an outdoor advertising company’s latest effort to target billboard ads to specific consumers.New York Sen. Charles Schumer has dubbed Clear Channel Outdoor Americas’ so-called RADAR...

Pedestrians walk through Times Square on May 1, 2016, in New York, where Clear Channel Outdoor Americas operates some billboards. New York Sen. Charles Schumer is calling for a federal investigation into the advertising company's latest effort to target billboard ads to specific consumers with its so-called RADAR program which he calls "spying billboards," and warns that the service may violate privacy rights by tracking people’s cell phone data. AP Photo/Kathy Willens

NEW YORK— A U.S. senator is calling for a federal investigation into an outdoor advertising company’s latest effort to target billboard ads to specific consumers.

New York Sen. Charles Schumer has dubbed Clear Channel Outdoor Americas’ so-called RADAR program “spying billboards,” warning the service may violate privacy rights by tracking people’s cell phone data via the ad space.

“A person’s cellphone should not become a James Bond-like personal tracking device for a corporation to gather information about consumers without their consent,” Schumer, a Democrat, said in a statement ahead of a planned news conference Sunday in Times Square, where the company operates billboards.

Pedestrians walk through Times Square, Sunday, May 1, 2016, in New York, where Clear Channel Outdoor Americas operates some billboards. New York Sen. AP Photo/Kathy Willens