Marketers, When Using Geofencing To Watch Consumers, Regulators May Be Watching You

To marketers, geofencing sounds like a perfect way to target the right consumer, at the right time, with the right ad. To consumers, geofencing may sound a bit Big Brotherish. To regulators, geofencing sounds like a practice that requires greater scrutiny.
One advertising agency recently discovered the hard way that geofencing is indeed a sensitive practice that is attracting the interest of regulators. The Massachusetts attorney general recently settled an investigation into the geofencing practices of Copley Advertising. The agency used geofencing technology to tag consumers’ smartphones when entering a specific geographic location to display ads on the devices for up to 30 days.