N.Y. senator seeks probe of ‘spying billboards’

NEW YORK — Sen. Charles Schumer is calling for a federal investigation into an outdoor advertising company’s latest effort to target billboard ads to specific consumers.

Schumer, D-N.Y., has dubbed Clear Channel Outdoor Americas’ so-called RADAR program “spying billboards,” warning the service may violate privacy rights by tracking people’s cellphone 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 said in a statement.

But the company, which operates more than 675,000 billboards throughout the world, argues that characterization of its program is inaccurate, insisting it uses only anonymous data collected by other companies. In a statement, company spokesman Jason King said the RADAR program is based on a years-old advertising technique that “uses only aggregated and anonymized information” from other companies that certify they’re following consumer protection standards.

The ad program is a partnership between Clear Channel and other companies, including AT&T and technology companies, that collects location data from smartphone apps, company officials have said.

The program gives marketers a “solution that provides a more accurate way to understand and target specific audience segments,” Clear Channel Vice President Andy Stevens said in a news release announcing the initiative in February.