# The US has the NSA.  The UK has.  Trashcans?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-has-the-nsa-the-uk-has-trashcans/666076>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [August 12, 2013, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-has-the-nsa-the-uk-has-trashcans/666076 "2013-08-12T21:29:32Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\
**Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-has-the-nsa-the-uk-has-trashcans/666076/1 "2013-08-12T21:29:32Z")

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[UK bars trash cans from tracking people with Wi-Fi](http://apnews.excite.com/article/20130812/DA84I5682.html).

> [@](#):
>
> But if a company could see that a certain smartphone user spent 20 minutes in a McDonald’s every day, it could approach Burger King about airing an ad on the bin’s video display whenever that user walks by at lunchtime. Or it could target its commercials in real time by distinguishing between people who work in the area and visiting tourists.
> 
> The prospect drew comparisons to the creepy “Good evening, John Anderton” ads from the Tom Cruise thriller “Minority Report.”

I can’t really work up anything other than amusement at the concept. But since the collected data is presumably subject to subpoena I can definately see it as just another cog in the surveillance machine.

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**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-has-the-nsa-the-uk-has-trashcans/666076/2 "2013-08-13T14:31:25Z")

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The UK equivalent of the NSA is the Government Communications Headquarters, commonly called GHCQ.

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**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-has-the-nsa-the-uk-has-trashcans/666076/3 "2013-08-13T14:44:49Z")

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> [@BrotherCadfael](#):
>
> The UK equivalent of the NSA is the Government Communications Headquarters, commonly called GHCQ.

(The acronym is just to catch people out 😉 )