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I laughed way too hard at this.   I'm not sure whether to flag this NSFW or not... It's the "Hitler finds out about..." style video.   http://youtu.be/LcT6h04qlAI

The more I'm playing with MDE, the more I'm liking it. We spend short amounts of time in the parks, usually pretty late in the day, and only rode maybe one or two attractions, and usually missed a few

Disney will (or already is) use the radio component of the MB's.  Why else would they have spent the money to include that feature in the design?  There are countless opportunities to sell us more stu

Why would you hope you misunderstood?

 

Because if true, and if Disney wanted to, they could track you no matter where you are on property as long as you're within range of a receiver, and not just at the RFID touch points. That's incorrectly been one of the fears from the beginning with the RFID system. Once you use it to get in, they can't track you unless you use it.

That's why I believe I read that the regular radio part of the MB was not linked to anyone's info, and could only detect that a MB was in the area.

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Because if true, and if Disney wanted to, they could track you no matter where you are on property as long as you're within range of a receiver, and not just at the RFID touch points. That's incorrectly been one of the fears from the beginning with the RFID system. Once you use it to get in, they can't track you unless you use it.

That's why I believe I read that the regular radio part of the MB was not linked to anyone's info, and could only detect that a MB was in the area.

 

They can. It's possible with the technology, so why wouldn't they?

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They can. It's possible with the technology, so why wouldn't they?

 

Until this recent test Dave mentioned, it was my understanding that the capability of detecting a specific guest from a longer distance using the active radio function was not designed into the MagicBand. That this could only be done by utilizing the RFID portion of the MB, and using it at touch points.

 

The technology for detecting specific people at longer distances is commonplace. If you've attended a conference, you've probably used it. It's not new. I proposed it to clients as long as 15 years ago for inventory control, but the question is whether or not Disney has decided to use it.

 

People are already complaining that they didn't like the fact that they could be tracked. But in order to do it, they have to use the MB at touch points, and most can be avoided if they so choose to. 

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The MB's ability to retrieve a guest's info and display it is also currently being used as part of the MLE, "my lobby experience", and will be, used more and more, face character meet and greets being one of the early, and obvious applications.

Other areas of use are, or will be, at park entrances, restaurant servers, and any other situation where a one on one CM guest interaction occurs, and where the guest experience can be enhanced by using the stored info.

And an obvious question is, will it be used when boarding buses? No, well at least not on my bus, because I don't care who you are, and could care less if it's your birthday.

I noticed new video displays in the Expedition Everest queue on my most recent visit. They were showing comical advertisements for the ride, and several names were displayed as people who had made comments or written things about the experience. The names did not change while we stood in the queue, but I thing these screens are going to have some kind of interactive function.

 

 

Until this recent test Dave mentioned, it was my understanding that the capability of detecting a specific guest from a longer distance using the active radio function was not designed into the MagicBand. That this could only be done by utilizing the RFID portion of the MB, and using it at touch points.

 

The technology for detecting specific people at longer distances is commonplace. If you've attended a conference, you've probably used it. It's not new. I proposed it to clients as long as 15 years ago for inventory control, but the question is whether or not Disney has decided to use it.

 

People are already complaining that they didn't like the fact that they could be tracked. But in order to do it, they have to use the MB at touch points, and most can be avoided if they so choose to.

Your understanding is based on the official mantra coming from Disney claiming that they are not going to keep personal information or track guests. If you read the wording on the official statements, you will see all kinds of evasiveness about what they really are doing.

As we have discussed many times, Disney is not investing a Billion dollars in this technology just because they're nice guys. They are going to mine as much personal information as they can from guests, and extract as much money as they possibly can. And the possibilities are endless.

TCD

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I noticed new video displays in the Expedition Everest queue on my most recent visit. They were showing comical advertisements for the ride, and several names were displayed as people who had made comments or written things about the experience. The names did not change while we stood in the queue, but I thing these screens are going to have some kind of interactive function.

 

 

Was that in the Standby or FP line?

 

Your understanding is based on the official mantra coming from Disney claiming that they are not going to keep personal information or track guests. If you read the wording on the official statements, you will see all kinds of evasiveness about what they really are doing.

 

 

I have contacted my buddy, the head of the department overseeing the implementation of the program, asking for clarification regarding the capabilities of the active radio in the MB.

 

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No matter what they do with them, it's only a series of numbers they are dealing with. So no personal info is being used. When we associate a photo to a mb we don't associate it to the person. We associate it to the mb number then they claim the photo using the number by linking it to thier account. The only time you can be tracked is when you use the mb to redeem an entitlemt where it cross references the mb number to the account to verify the entitlement. The long range does not do this cross referencing.

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The screens are up in the very last room that you walk through before going out to the loading area.

 

Both the FP and standby lines pass through that room, and there are video screens on each side.

 

TCD

 

 If the FP line has a MB touch point, they could have a system that allows people in that line to interact with a display. I don't know if there is such a system though, or if there is one there. There are a number of ways to do what you saw that doesn't require a MB.

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  • 3 weeks later...

 

I told you so.  

 

 

Which part did you tell us so?

 

That article has several gross inaccuracies.

Wearing the MagicBand alone does not make the wearer track-able. The wearer has to use it at one of the touch points.

Also, you can opt out of the MB and get a RFID card which only has an RFID tag, but no longer range radio.

 

On a recent thread, the question came up as to whether or not the longer range radio, not the RFID tag, also embedded in the MB, is able to track specifc guests without them using it at a touch point. To my knowledge, it couldn't.

 

I emailed the head of the department responsible for implementing the MyMagic program, asking him specifically if that was possible. Below is part of my message in blue, and part of the official response in red.

 

Is the MagicBand, using the active radio feature, and not the RFID tag, able to detect a specific guest from a longer distance

without the guest needing to do anything?

 

The Magic Bands do not have personal information so any long-range scanning would contain unidentifiable information. Our company is also focused on safety and so Guests can also elect to only be issued the RF Resort Cards, which can only be used at touch points- much like the former Key to the World Cards.

The issue you refer to involved the misapplication of encryption codes.  These codes could not, and did not, involve personal information because there is none on the Magic Bands.

 

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My DW received a email from Disney telling her her photo pass photos were about to expire. Thing is we never set up a photo pass, so I went to the page linked in the email and entered my MDE info and low and behold there we're ride pictures from our November trip on Buzz light year and test track. If the magic bands didn't have something to do with this I have no idea how Disney knew who we were and how to contact us. It's also a mystery why they used my wife's email instead of mine. I also don't understand why they only have pictures from just that one trip on two rides. We went on many more rides and have been back a couple of time since the trip that they had pictures for. Strange

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If the magic bands didn't have something to do with this I have no idea how Disney knew who we were and how to contact us.

 

Disney is not saying that they can't track you by the MB, but that it's only being done through the use of touch points, so guests are aware that it's being done.

They're saying that the powered radio portion will not be used as a discreet identifier, and so they will not track you without your knowledge. That's only being done by the RFID system. I guess we can believe them or not.

They're also saying that if you're uncomfortable with that, you can opt out of the MB by getting a card, which does not have the powered radio, but will work at all of the touch points just like a MB.

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I guess I'm not all that uncomfortable about being tracked at Disney.  I mean, I'm tracked everywhere - from security cameras in parking lots to security cameras inside stores.  I get the whole 1984 thing - Big Brother and all that -, but if Disney wants to know what I'm riding or where I'm eating, they pretty much already know that through the MB FP touch points.  And if it's just the privacy thing, then I'm finding out really quickly on Facebook that too many people don't particularly want to be private anymore.  

 

Beisdes that, the MB can't even get the Photo Pass thing right, like Memphis said.  When I first accessed our photos, all of them were there except one.  Then I got that same message that Memphis did.  I went back to MDE, thinking of ordering a few of them, and the shots of us with our friends had disappeared.  The only photos there were of my husband and me.  Either my MB had a brain burp, or Disney technology failed again.  

 

I don't want to seem negative or anything like that because I like the MBs.  I like not having to keep up with a card, being able to charge a purchase by just touching the band to the post, and using the FP+ - those all worked great.  And if Disney wants to track me, while I'm in the park ( you can deactivate the band when you leave), then I guess I'm okay with that.  

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Disney is not saying that they can't track you by the MB, but that it's only being done through the use of touch points, so guests are aware that it's being done.

They're saying that the powered radio portion will not be used as a discreet identifier, and so they will not track you without your knowledge.

The picture taken on Buzz Lightyear was not a fast pass so we at no time used a touch pad so if MB was used to id us it was without our knowledge. The touch pads would not be able to id us in a ride vehicle as they are too fare from the loading point to know which car we would be in. I don't have a problem with this use I think it's great but I can see where it could cause someone great grief. If I had been there with someone I shouldn't be with and if Disney does as they did in my case send the info to my wife with the day and time stamp of the picture. I don't have those kind of issues but I bet it happens.
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The picture taken on Buzz Lightyear was not a fast pass so we at no time used a touch pad so if MB was used to id us it was without our knowledge. The touch pads would not be able to id us in a ride vehicle as they are too fare from the loading point to know which car we would be in. I don't have a problem with this use I think it's great but I can see where it could cause someone great grief. If I had been there with someone I shouldn't be with and if Disney does as they did in my case send the info to my wife with the day and time stamp of the picture. I don't have those kind of issues but I bet it happens.

 

Imagine your wife had opened up that email and seen a picture of you riding Buzz with Lou.  You'd have some splainin to do. 

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Disney will (or already is) use the radio component of the MB's.  Why else would they have spent the money to include that feature in the design?  There are countless opportunities to sell us more stuff by personalizing our experience more, or by learning more about our habits and then targeting their marketing to us better than they already do. 

 

The MB might tell Disney that we spent 40 minutes shopping in the Bibbity Bobbity Boutique.  So they will stop sending pirate themed brochures to us and just send Princess related sales documents. 

 

The MB might tell them that we hung around Sleepy Hollow Refreshments every day for 30 minutes in the afternoon.  So Disney sold our personal information to Nutella for marketing purposes. 

 

The MB indicated also that we spent an inordinate amount of time in the new Rapunzel restrooms, so Disney sold our data to Pepto Bismol and Depends undergarments.  The mailman now laughs at us. 

 

It's all about increasing revenue to the Mouse.  They didn't build that system just to enhance the guest experience. 

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I think they'll use it how Dave is talking about (well, for the most part), and I also think they'll use it for crowd control. For example, there aren't many in the area of the Haunted Mansion, so let's offer a certain number of guests a surprise fastpass via text message.

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