Jordan Colley

I had a photo shoot in a downtown high-rise earlier this week, and the building now has ALPR (automatic license plate reader) cameras. So you just drive in without getting a ticket. The office administrator was nice enough to validate my parking, so I didn't have to pay the normally high parking rates. Since it was linked to my license plate, I just drove out.

When I got home, I had a text message from when I entered the parking garage and another one when I exited free of charge. How did the lot know my cell number?

Then I remembered the automated lot I used in Las Vegas about a month ago. Could it be the same company? Sure enough, Metropolis runs both garages. I was able to sign in to an account and see all my “activity”, thus tracking where and when I was at those lots. I deleted my payment info and then my account, because I read a few stories about people being mistakenly charged with little recourse. This is so creepy. A private company was tracking me across state lines without my informed consent.

Did I sign some sort of contract when I originally linked the parking with my phone number in Las Vegas? Probably, but I gave it a cursory glance and assumed that it was only tied to that specific lot. I did not know that I was agreeing to a multi-state contract that would link my activity at multiple garages into one timeline.

I want to live in a world where companies respect my privacy. It's fine to offer this sort of connected experience as an opt-in feature. I understand that when I sign up for a loyalty program at a store, I am agreeing to have my purchases tracked and used for marketing in exchange for a discount. This is why I don't sign up for many loyalty programs. I personally don't want to make that trade, but it's fine if others do. I just don't want to be forced or tricked into invasive tracking by default.