Secure and private cloud based broadcast identification

A method comprising:

• receiving, at a tracking server from a mobile device, an authentication value computed by a tracking device based on a unique identifier associated with the tracking device and a counter value maintained by the tracking device and transmitted to the mobile device, wherein the counter value is incremented at least once per hour;
• computing, by the tracking server, an authentication value corresponding to each of a set of tracking devices associated with the tracking server based on a unique identifier associated with each of the set of tracking devices;
• and
• in response to a plurality of computed authentication values matching the received authentication value, determining that the plurality of computed authentication values comprise an authentication value collision and attempting to resolve the collision by identifying, by the tracking server, one of the plurality of computed authentication values as associated with the received authentication value based on a comparison of account information associated with the tracking device and account information associated with each of the multiple computed authentication values.