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Home / Entertainment

Disneyland's snooping, phone apps and magic bands make for 'happiest surveillance state on earth'

NZ Herald
22 Jul, 2019 04:33 AM3 mins to read

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Surveillance state: Stormtroopers patrol the Disneyland Resort. Photo / Amy Sussman, Getty Images

Surveillance state: Stormtroopers patrol the Disneyland Resort. Photo / Amy Sussman, Getty Images

The "happiest place on earth" might also be one of the most closely watched, with a combination of apps, trackers and data collection programmes that would make a surveillance state jealous.

According to a recent report by Bloomberg the theme park makes use of smartphone apps and trackers in Disney "Magic Bands" to follow the movements of guests and gather information on their buying habits, favourite rides and characters.

With an 18 per cent jump in profits last year, Bloomberg has attributed the $4.5 billion (NZ$6.65 billion) profit to "unfettered access" to consumer data.

With the theme park opening 64 years ago, last week, the multi-billion dollar entertainment centre has embraced digital technology and data-fishing techniques to become the "happiest police state on earth."

A dark side? Disney's Park App has been used to access visitor data. Photo / Supplied
A dark side? Disney's Park App has been used to access visitor data. Photo / Supplied
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In May the Star Wars attraction Galaxy's Edge, was launched with a companion app for smartphones to help visitors immerse themselves in the sci-fi themed attraction.

The Play Disney Parks app provides a variety of mini-games for visitors to interact with robots and parts of the Star Wars-themed park.

However, as can be expected there is a "dark side" to this new force for fun.

A dive into the current privacy policy of the app shows users handing over information that accounts for a detailed summary of visitor's activities both physical and virtual.

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The location of visitors is "provided by a mobile or other device interacting with one of [Disney's] sites or applications (including through beacon technologies), or associated with your IP address"

Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge the sci-fi attraction at Disney's Anaheim resort. Photo / Amy Sussman, Getty Images
Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge the sci-fi attraction at Disney's Anaheim resort. Photo / Amy Sussman, Getty Images

With other information provided about sites visited, social media activity, and technical device data, "whether or not you are logged in or registered."

However, before the Disney Parks app, the theme park had long since embarked down the path of mining visitor data for profit.

The entertainments giant spent $1billion dollar investment in visitor's data is something called the MagicBand.

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The wearable piece of Disney tech was designed to hold you place in queues for rides, make payments in the park and even unlock hotel rooms in some of the resorts' many hotels.

MagicBand was Disney's first forray into wearable tech, and customer data. Photo / Supplied, Disneystore
MagicBand was Disney's first forray into wearable tech, and customer data. Photo / Supplied, Disneystore

Launched In 2013, the RFID bracelet's potential to undermine guest privacy was contentious topic from the beginning, even among Disney park board members.

According to Bloomberg, even Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg (who sat on Disney's board at the time) was tempted to "lean out" of the project when she learnt the band could be used to track her kids.

The park insists that data collected is used "in aggregate" rather than on an individual scale, however this access to the smallest of user activities around their parks has helped overhaul the 65-year-old amusement park.

MagicBands have helped drop ride wait times by 30-per-cent. In this way, the Millennium Falcon, the most over hyped attraction and flagship ride for the $1billion Star Wars world has a wait time of just 25 minutes.

Millennium Falcon: Visitor data has been used to cut waiting time for Galaxy's Edge flagship ride to just 25 minutes. Photo / Amy Sussman, Getty Images
Millennium Falcon: Visitor data has been used to cut waiting time for Galaxy's Edge flagship ride to just 25 minutes. Photo / Amy Sussman, Getty Images

Far outside the smooth running of the park, it has been suggested the MagicBands have helped Disney shape its creative output on the big screen.

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Measuring the movement of visitors through the park, the entertainment company can measure the rising and falling popularity of its movie franchises. Perhaps, even which is the latest childhood cartoon due a live-action remake.

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