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Free Phone Calls... If Advertisers Can Eavesdrop

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the why-are-my-ads-all-about-boobs dept.

Dekortage writes "Today, Pudding Media is introducing an Internet phone service similar to Skype's online service, but without any toll charges. The catch: they are eavesdropping on phone calls with voice recognition software to monitor calls, then push conversation-relevant the ads to the subscriber's computer screen. Interestingly, during tests, "conversations [were] actually changing based on what was on the screen," said the president. "Our ability to influence the conversation was remarkable.""

1 of 246 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Except that ... by IgnoramusMaximus · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    And of course, all the arguments you made can be applied to GMail as well. Google really crossed a line when they decided to use email content as a source of advertising information.

    Absolutely. People who farm out their whole corporate flow of communications and/or deeply personal stuff to third parties ("Because, like, its free!!") are probably the very same crowd who helps out all those Nigerian Princesses with getting their dad's money out of the country, or who buy all those penis extenders advertised in every second spam missive.

    If there is one bright side, maybe all this in-your-face "we know what you're saying" will promote the common use of public-key technology. Then again, it probably won't.

    See above. My money is on the formation of the Porcine Aviation Association just days before what you described occuring.

    Not to mention all the "Think Of The Children!! The Terrorists/Communists/Pedophiles/Pirates/SpaceAliens Are Coming To Get Us All!!!" hysteria which would inevietably occur when various power-hungry demagogues discover that they can't "inspect" everybody else's email for conformance with their particular flavour of frothing hate of everything unlike their own reflection, at will.