

At some point they realized some people left their bluetooth on on their phones (which wasn’t the case when the initial deployment happened, bluetooth was seen by most as a battery sucking crap technology) and by comparing the bluetooth ping logs at two points they could approximate driving speeds to a decently accurate degree. You couldn’t use the data to pinpoint a specific user really and you couldn’t pinpoint speed exactly so it was no use to law enforcement, but it was fabulous data to model traffic on.
This is exactly why I turn my bluetooth off of my phone. I know grocery stores use this too for tracking where people shop within the store.
I’m a PC gamer who games primarily via Steam, but this is just not true. Steam really only protects the consumer when forced by a regulatory body. For example, Steam used to have a No Refunds policy until the EU forced them to have the 2 hours/2 weeks policy they have now.
Really, we should be thanking consumer watchdogs and regulatory bodies.