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Google to Track TV Viewers More Closely
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)."
"Why yes Tina, that was a commercial for Ferrari, followed by a Tiffanys spot. What was that.., oh, your panties just semeed to have fallen to your shoes."
There's nothing Intelligent about Intelligent Design.
Echostar is Dish Network.
-- I have a private email server in my basement.
Targeted advertising based on our credit history and income?
I'm pretty sure this counts as "evil".
Desai stresses that all this data is made anonymous, so it certainly won't be possible to target specific households with ads...
... yet
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.
LEELA: Didn't you have ads in the twentieth century?
FRY: Well, sure, but not in our dreams. Only on TV and radio... and in magazines... and movies, and at ballgames, and on buses, and milk cartons, and T-shirts, and bananas, and written in the sky. But not in dreams, no sirree.
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!
This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
there's nothing I can do about Echostar tracking that data
Yes there is. Don't plug your DVR into the phone line (or internet.) The dish is receive only. Dish and DirecTV will both say that you NEED a land line, and the installers take a hit if there is not one connected when the box is activated, but it is not needed to have the DVR work.
I installed DirecTV for 16 months. They just want your viewing data and impulse Pay-per-view hits.
-- I have a private email server in my basement.
I know I'm not alone in this - lots of people are pretty quick with the mute button and it causes me to wonder.... Suppose you are an advertiser who pays for a really endearing ad that people love to watch. Maybe something like the slightly bewildered A&W proprietor they've been airing lately. So you go to the expense of creating ads that follow a story line and that are successful, if the audience sees and hears them.
Now imagine what happens if your ad follows one of those obnoxious ads people immediately mute. I suppose the only solution is to make sure your ad is always in the first slot - but that could get expensive.
In times of trouble, the smell of frying onions usually gives confidence and comfort.
I think I'm going to call Dish support and have a conversation about this.
Have fun.
-- I have a private email server in my basement.
You know, maybe if companies would spend less time trying to figure out how to target me with ads for stuff I find lacking and actually, oh I dunno, make products I actually want to buy, then maybe I would. And they wouldn't need to waste their ad dollars.
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.
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.
Here is your citation ... me. They charged me the first month I had it in 2006, I complained, they waived it for 3 months; I even got the woman to admit that yes, I was being charged $5 for the right NOT to be tracked and as a PENALTY for not being able to spend money on PPV. At the end of 3 months I complained, they did nothing, I was lazy, and even with the $5 it was the best deal I had given that cable was not available and DirectTV cost more. Then I moved and used their dish mover deal because cable cost WAY more and I wasn't in the mood to switch to DirectTV which was no cheaper anyway (I also don't like their DVD UI). Funny thing though, the nice man on the other end of the line when I set up the install at my new place removed the $5 completely and that was that.
So I wonder if they have stopped that fee? In the end I would never have hooked it up anyway but I also don't have a landline so it wasn't even an option ... never will either in all likelyhood.
If you can't be good, be good at it!
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.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
Would you rather see ads about things you have no care for, nor afford?
Yes. They're very easy to ignore that way.
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.