Billboards May be Spying on You

WITH ERRORS AND DISCRIMINATION. DID YOU KNOW WHILE DRIVING DOWN THE HIGHWAY ADVERTISERS MAY BE TRACK YOU? SOUND BIG BROTHERISH? CBS2 DOROTHY TUCKER SHOWS YOU HOW IT INVOLVES BILLBOARDS AND CAMERAS AND YOUR CELL PHONE. Reporter: WITH TODAY'S BILLBOARDS YOU CAN CAN BE A TARGET ON THE ROAD. THERE'S A CAMERA THAT'S SMALL. Reporter: HE IS TALKING ABOUT A CAMERA THAT WAS ON A BILLBOARD RECENTLY ALONG I-88. ITS MISSION SNAP PICTURES OF A FEW SPECIFIC CARS PART OF THE ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN FOR CHEVY MALIBU. HERE'S HOW IT WORKS. WHEN THE CAMERAS ZEROS IN ON THE NISSAN ALTIMA THE AD TARGETS THE DRIVER SAYING THE MALIBU HAS MORE AVAILABLE AFTER SAFETY FEATURES THAN THE ALTIMA. IT'S A WAY OF ACKNOWLEDGING THE PRESENCE AND ACKNOWLEDGING THEY ARE MAKING A UNIQUE TASTE. Reporter: ANOTHER COMPANY CLEAR CHANNEL IS PAYING SPECIAL ATTENTION TO WHO PASSES THE BILLBOARDS WITH 4,000 DISPLAYS ACROSS THE CHICAGO AREA. USING. Reporter: DATA COLLECTED FROM CELL PHONES LETS AN ADVERTISER KNOW WHEN DRIVERS PASS THE SIGN IF THEY WERE INTERESTED IN IT. YOU THINK OF IT AS PHONE AND WE THINK OF IT AS DIGITAL TRACKER. Reporter: HE IS CEO OF 1871 CHICAGO'S TECHNOLOGY EPICENTER. HE SAYS THE USE OF CELL PHONE DATE SAI IS GOING TO-- DATA IS GOING TO BE MORE COMMON. WE WANT TO KNOW THAT CONSUMER THAT DROVE BY THAT BILLBOARD TWO HOURS LATER STOPPED AND BOUGHT OUR PRODUCT. Reporter: YOU ARE COLLECTING AND HAVING ALL OF THAT DATA. SAVE US TIME SAVE US MONEY. THAT'S ALL THE GOOD SIDE OF THE DATA. Reporter: BUT IS THERE A BAD SIDE? EVERYBODY WHO HAS A SMART PHONE IS CARRYING A MINIATURE SURVEILLANCE DEVICE. Reporter: LORI AND JUICE A PROFESSOR AT KENT COLLEGE OF LAW SAYS THIS IS THE EXAMPLE OF A BEER AD DROOB BY AND GO TO A LIQUOR STORE. I MIGHT BE BUYING SOMETHING ELSE BUT THE COMPANY IS TELLING THE BILLBOARD COMPANY YOUR BILLBOARD IS SUCCESSFUL. IT'S A PROBLEM BECAUSE YOU ARE -- YOUR LOW INFORMATION CAN BE EXTREMELY SENSITIVE. Reporter: CLEAR CHANNEL SAYS THEY ABIDE BY REGULATIONS PROTECTING CONSUMERS PRIEST SIGH AND -- CONSUMERS PRIVACY. WE ARE NOT SAVING OR STORING ANY PICTURES OF CARS OR INDIVIDUALS NOT AT ALL. Reporter: DOROTHY TUCKER CBS2 NEWS. CLEAR CHANNEL SAYS THE DATA IT GETS DOES NOT INCLUDE ANYONE'S PERSONAL INFORMATION. SO HOW CAN YOU PREVENT BEING TRACKED EVEN IF IT'S ANONYMOUS? THE BEST WAY IS TO NOT ONLY