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Google to Track TV Viewers More Closely

Posted by timothy on from the from-each-according-to-his-quintile dept.

GalacticNoob writes "According to this post, Google is about to launch a TV advertising program that will let advertisers target audiences based on demographics including their household income. A satellite TV company called Echostar is working with credit-reporting company Equifax to cross-reference shows watched with income and buying habits (based on using Equifax's data)."

12 of 123 comments (clear)

  1. Dish by Nethead · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Echostar is Dish Network.

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    -- I have a private email server in my basement.
  2. Do no evil? by Dachannien · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Targeted advertising based on our credit history and income?

    I'm pretty sure this counts as "evil".

    1. Re:Do no evil? by owlnation · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Targeted advertising based on our credit history and income? I'm pretty sure this counts as "evil".

      Considering that Equifax is no stranger to being fined for breaking the law, I'd say it actually counts as "Evil" with a capital "E".

      Google needs competition. Their honeymoon period is over.

    2. Re:Do no evil? by maxume · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Anybody who is concerned about whether Google is evil or not better not have a credit card or watch television anyway.

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      Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
    3. Re:Do no evil? by Lux · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Advertizing-based company undermines user privacy to make money. Film at 11.

      Seriously... this is why I'm staying away from Chrome. If Google gets big enough in the browser to start dictating de-facto standards, my privacy will suffer.

    4. Re:Do no evil? by gEvil+(beta) · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Yes, but TFA states this will happen indirectly. They are not talking about looking up your credit history and deciding which ads to push to you, but rather one partnership is going to use the credit history to decide which shows people in different income brackets tend to watch, and it is this information is going to be used by google to decide upon which adverts go with which shows.

      Oh, I get it. They're synergistically leveraging their core competencies to alleviate market deficits of cross-sectionalized yield-based advertisorial programming. Why didn't someone just say so?

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      This guy's the limit!
  3. For now... by cjfs · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Desai stresses that all this data is made anonymous, so it certainly won't be possible to target specific households with ads...

    ... yet

  4. Scott Adams said... by GMonkeyLouie · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Humanity has precious little time left before marketers become so astute at selling directly to each and every consumer that we become powerless to resist their offerings. The only defense we will have will be to hide from all advertising, which will require curling up into a tiny little ball in a dark corner.

  5. Re:if I see ONE commercial for a loan... by NotQuiteReal · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Perhaps you would prefer a direct call to your cell phone offering such items...

    Oh, I almost forgot - I think your car warranty has expired, but it is not too late to extent it! This is your 2nd notice!

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    This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
  6. TV? Whats that? by Ender77 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This is why I gave up TV and local radio a couple of years ago. It stopped being entertainment and just became an ad machine. Now, I just watch tv through the internet, ad free. MUHAHAHAHAHA.

  7. Do no evil by Krakadoom · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So "do no evil" is pretty much over, right? Seems every new move Google makes these days is the same sort of thing we'd be criticizing other scumbag companies for.

  8. Re:Absolutely absurd by cayenne8 · · Score: 5, Insightful
    "I don't see why people view these things so harshly. Think about it, now it means ads will actually hit their target audience Would you rather see ads about things you have no care for, nor afford?"

    Well, for one thing...what the hell is a credit reporting service doing SELLING my fucking info??

    I mean....I really don't like the idea that the big three track that stuff, but, I can reluctantly live with it as a means to give a reasonable (usually) score of a credit risk when you need a loan, etc.

    However, I think this information should be restricted to only that use, and it should be treated as pretty much privacy act level information, and nothing of it should ever be given out without the expressed consent of the individual in question.

    I'm not one to usually ask for new restrictive laws, but, in this case, I wish we could mandate that a person's information is THEIRS....and cannot be bought, sold, traded or used in a fashion such as this. I mean, c'mon, why not just also combine it with info that the IRS and SS has on us too in the US? Aside from the difference in it being a commercial vs governmental affair...the privacy intrusion is analogous.

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    Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........