[usr01398132]

Using cell phone location data to track users isn't at all new in North America & Europe. Adtech companies have been doing since the 2000s.

Having worked at a digital signage company I can tell you that all digital out of home advertising companies use cell phone tower location data to calculate impressions (views) for their billboards. Note this isn't limited to digital outdoor ads, static (posters) ads also use the same location data to determine the amount of impressions they get.

This metric is usually required so that the Advertising companies can bill their customers.

It amazes me that so many HN commenters think this type of tracking is new. What you people should be concerned about are the adtech companies that have been doing this with little oversight for at least a decade.

[zelphirkalt]

Hehe, well, perhaps it's not really new, but the justification and doing it in broad daylight might be new. The attempt to get rid of the shadiness factor of such practice. Also perhaps not by the government or Canadian government.

I'd guess that most of HN knows, that this has been done before. Outrage or indignation does not require thinking, that something is a new practice.