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New Ad Technology Tracks Consumer Movement
mingrassia writes "Over at CNN: New technology tracks consumer movement, flashes messages and calls out to passersby. Meet the Human Locator. It's a new technology developed by Canadian ad agency Freeset Interactive that purports to detect when humans are near, track their movement, and then broadcast messages directed at them on a nearby screen. Conspiracy theorists can relax, however. The Human Locator can't yet identify, say, obese pedestrians and then bombard them with images of a cheeseburger and fries."
In Minority Report. Next thing you know I'll have to change my eyes.
I guess it was only a matter of time. Now I need some kind of pop-up blocker!
Hmm...maybe a tinfoil hat will work??
I don't see why this is revolutionary technology. This could have been done for years, with basic motion-detector technology. I also don't see why this would make ads any more "localized" than any other print billboards. I don't see why people would mind a billboard talking to them either, it's not as if they haven't heard any other recorded voices being played back.
Anyways, this technology seems redundant and pointless. Researchers should spend their time working on something useful than coming up with a billboard that lights up when you pass.
YOU DO NOT KNOW BE MUT PLEASE TO INTRODUCE myself. i mean know harm to , and god willing, only good shall come from this video screen. i am alandra seko seso, of the african republic of....
I'd imagine they'd start with `identification' of the sort of "average color on the moving blob/person", then (in a few years) move to female/male recognition (to better target ads), then to possibly scanning various chips embeded in your teeth for a positive match of who you are, and how often you pass by that ad.
"If anything can go wrong, it will." - Murphy
"It's a new technology ... that purports to detect when humans are near, track their movement, and then broadcast messages directed at them ..."
Seems to me I already get that at freeway off-ramps.
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Uh, wasn't it just three articles ago we were talking about a GPS stalker, and it was a bad thing that one person was tracking one other person? Does many to many, instead of one to one, make it okay?
Sigs are like bumper stickers.
I will just make sure I go that extra mile to avoid buying their products, and make sure I inform people of why.
So to all /.ers who will get up in arms over this...don't. It is inevitable that this technology will be developed. They will use it to intrude on our lives. But remember, ultimately you have a choice (until the law states otherwise) about whether or not they get your dollars. And if they don't, they just wasted all that cash on something that will just lose them customers.
If you really want to do something about it, write to the company (and the ad agency they use) and let them know that you will be buying the product of a competitor who uses less intrusive, annoying advertising. Its as simple as that, and you don't have to stress about anything.
Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
"Hello, Sir. You look like a man who nees a larger penis!"
It's probably illegal, but does anyone know a way to (permanantly) disable a digital camera? Would a laser pointer do it? Not that I would do anything of the sort, of course.
Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
Sooo. What fucking good is it, then???
The secret of success is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake those, you've got it made. (Marx)
If companies (walmart for example) are willing to sell data such as who bought which product containing rfid tag x then the advertisers just need to scan for certain rfid ids and figure out what to try and sell the person. Just remember its your duty to make sure these sorts of databases are filled with the most useless crap you can think of!
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In Capitalist America, adds watch YOU!
Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
What is going to happen when the DBases from the Frequent User Programs, RFiD's and Locator Combine?
It's just a matter of time. All that Data available, and when someone figures out it is Sellable, crosslinkable and updatable (via RFiD detection.) You think they are going to Turn those little suckers off after purchase? You think they will not develop its' range ability and storage capacity to it maximum abilites. It will become the greatest marketing and tracking, and profiling tool since targeted marketing was developed. Then to top it all off the data that the GOV. has and swore would never be used inappropriately, why that's just sitting there to be tapped. If they cannot keep track of simple floppies, and Top Secret Data what makes you think they are going to be able to maintain Non Secret Databases.
My cat's picked up a Hammer. HEY! Put down that Hammer. Put Down that Hamm...THUNK!
So when I walk out of Victoria Secret, will I see some advertisement with pritty woment withouth much clothign?
who | grep -i blond | date cd ~; unzip; touch; strip; finger; mount; gasp; yes; uptime; umount; sleep
It's called directed sound. There was also a big deal made about it for the Republican convention (e.g., here and here). as a crowd control measure.
To-do List: Receive telemarketing call during a tornado warning. Check.
So it's basically just a motion detector with some fancy bells and whistles (ie, can tell if you're walking away)? What's the big deal? It's not like it's gonna give try and market special ads to individual people, or that when you leave the vicinity of the ad fixture it even remembers you.
The Human Locator can't yet identify, say, obese pedestrians and then bombard them with images of a cheeseburger and fries.
They already do that, it's called TV ads. Maybe it can go a way ahead targeting the dud that got outside to buy more cheeseburger and fries.
eliphas
can it pick up chicks?
Wasn't this technology developed by construction workers quite some time ago?
It's sad when a human being's job is replaced by a machine. Of course, it it can't recognize fat people, then I suppose the technology still has a ways to go in this regards.
___
It's the end of my comment as I know it and I feel fine.
Get a free Fucking Ipod
The secret of success is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake those, you've got it made. (Marx)
I'm seeing either funny posts or angry posts about this. So to those who are angry, who gives a shit?
Does this technology identify who I am yet? No. Does it identify where I go yet? No. Does it identify what I have brought yet? No. Then what's the big deal? These advertisements don't intrude upon you anymore then current adverts do. They just pop up when they see a person as opposed to always being shown.
Most likely people feel it WILL do a lot of the things I just said. But I have to ask, are they such a bad thing? The biggest problem is most likely won't get to decide if the ad does a lot of the stuff I just said, but what if you could opt-in. Would you care then? They aren't going to show more ads JUST because of this technology, so why not opt-in to have them target the ads to you? I know I wouldn't mind on one proviso, I could fill out a form saying "I don't wish it to take into consideration anything involving sex that I buy" (condoms, porno, etc). If the advertising companies allowed for that sort of control on our part, I think many people would use it.
Imagine instead of having to watch yet another viagra advertisement or another herpes ad or another car ad, you got to see ads about the latest video game, some special on ram. Now wouldn't you much prefer that to a toyota ad. And if you don't, don't opt-in. But people are forgetting advertisements aren't a bad thing, it's just a lot of the time they're not interesting to us and therefore a waste of time. If they could stop being useless, they'd be useful.
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Have you ever seen an obese pedestrian? No? Didn't think so. Obese people don't walk. That's why they're obese.
Humbly submitted to the mods, who can fight over whether this is insightful, funny, troll, or flamebait.
Imagine how much advertising is wasted on animals, objects, the sky, moon, ect.. Now the technology is here to target only people. What a breakthrough !
Any technology that will prevent me from ever having to see or hear a tampon or yeast infection commercial ever again is fine by my book.
/^[A-Z0-9._%+-]+@[A-Z0-9.-]+\.[A-Z]{2,4}$/i
Although parent requested permanant disablement, I would not advocate such a level of vandalism. Silly String should be even better than the previous suggestion of duct tape for non-destructive occlusion of detested digital detectors. In most cases it can be applied from out of range. Witnesses would most likely be amused. Even if caught, chances are that charges will not be filed as removal is trivial and of minimal, if any, cost.
There is no right to feel safe thru security vaudeville at the expense of everyone's freedom, privacy and tax money.
This could eventually be expanded to resemble Amazon's product reccomendations based upon what you're wearing, what sort of items are in your bag (RFID), etc. I just can't wait until it gets as bad as Snow Crash where they can hack into the LCDs implanted into your eyes and display commercials constantly until you commit suicide.
I went to the grocery store the other day, and as I was walking up close to the door the darned thing opened for me. It was the weirdest thing ever. Then, when I got to the other side... It closed.
Creepy.
The ______ Agenda
Proud of his latest effort, our hero replies, "Well Mom, we just discovered a way to help advertisers track people and shove ads down their throats at every possible opportunity. I think this is going to make us a big bundle of money!"
Dear sweet Mother replies: "You know, I've never told you this until now, but you're adopted. We picked you up from an adoption service in the States."
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
Conspiracy theorists can relax, however.
Sure, that's just what THEY want us to do...
I am Sartre of the Borg. Existence is futile.
Imagine when the human-targeting billboard people get together with the RFID people before descending on your nearest Wal~Mart. Can't tell skinny people from fat, male from female, you say? Once most products have RFID tags, it'll be a simple matter to differently target the person whose cart just rolled up with FUBU t-shirts and 13 bottles of Jheri Curl vs. the one with a stack of flannels and a gross of shotgun shells. (And telling the Size 8 purchases from the Size 18 purchases is more trivial still.) The beauty is these guys don't even have to correlate anything with actual purchases nor tie into a specific customer's Preferred Card database profile for this targeting method to be effective (although that might not stop 'em from trying anyway).
Caveat Emptor is not a business model.
I for one eagerly await the growing population of quasi-intelligent robots just so I can torment them on new and exciting levels. Such as going to stores in order to find a combination of items that when obtained will overload the robots memory capacity and literally blow it's little mind.
The thing about this is the Canadian government is commited to transparency to a far greater extent than any government I've heard of before. If you authorize a questionable contract you can expect the canadian public to track you closely.
Canadian politicians make far less than other politicians ($150,000 aprox for an mp, $100,000 for an mpp). They theoretically do it because they love our country. But they have denied technological transparency, such as streaming their day onto the internet or allowing their meetings to be tracked on the internet, which seems pretty suspicious to me. I have no problems with totally free information (I think people will get bored of watching pamela anderson [note:she's canadian] showering after a few days) and use the information practically.
However I think the first step towards removing privacy is for the government to do it, as public servants it's almost their responsability.
Think what you can learn just by talking to an elderly person now imagine being able to watch their whole life.
Got a bit off topic but basically the Canadian government is allowing businesses to collect information in one area while a perfect group for testing and transparancy goes ignored.
I can't say "shame on the Canadian Government" for not implementing it, because it's a new conecpt and there are emotional reservations but I really think allowing the retail sector to do it first is terrible.
So let's see my alternative: we could track people much easier using RF-wave detection.
In Europe, many people carry GSM's. You could analyze the number of different RF-waves going around, and based upon the sensed channels and TDMA(GSM)-timeslots (max 8 in 1 GSM channel of 200khz) calculate what the 'cell-density' would be. If it's high, it means many people are calling, having their phones on standby, GPRS'ing or UMTS'ing. The potential is huge.
Based on specific data on the sort of transmission, you could theoretically even sense which type of transmission they are using, and base your screen-based advertisments on that. This way, you can grasp the potential customer even more and increase your net income. The potential is huge.
Imagine people that like to UMTS a lot - you could flash 'Go to http://www..com' in front of their eyes! Heck if - mind that I am not encouraging anything here - we could decode GSM-data we could even listen in and analyze their behaviour upon their conversations. Or grasp their phonenumbers/email-adresses/visited websites in detail. Imagine interactive spamming - the potential is huge.
This was another episode of "preaching to the converted".
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Does this technology identify who I am yet? No. Does it identify where I go yet? No. Does it identify what I have brought yet? No. Then what's the big deal?
It is very reasuring to know that because it is not possible now, we have nothing to worry about. With this assurence, I can have unprotected sex with anybody I like, because I have no AIDS yet.
Seriously, the danger lies in that small word yet that means that sooner or later it WILL be possibe. I realy must re-read 1984 and see how the people are so willingly hand over any privacy they had for companies and/or governement.
Let us be thankful we have commerce. Buy more. Buy more now. Buy. And be happy.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.