In Japan, a Billboard That Watches You

An anonymous reader writes "At a Tokyo railway station above a flat-panel display hawking DVDs and books sits a small camera hooked up to some image processing software. When trials begin in January the camera will scan travelers to see how many of them are taking note of the panel, in part of a technology test being run by NTT Communications. It doesn't seek to identify individuals, but it will attempt to figure out how many of the people standing in front of an advertisement are actually looking at it. A second camera, which wasn't fitted at the station but will be when tests begin next month, will take care of estimating how many people are in front of the ad, whether they are looking at it or not."

Comments

Seems extreme to me

[theredshoes]

Let me know when the billboard ads for the personal/cleaning/pleasure toy robots are put up in the mall and they jump out at you while you are walking, yelling, "Buy me!" then that will be pretty damn impressive.

Seriously though, a bit sneaky, but fascinating that they want a headcount of who walks by these marketing ads. I wonder if they realize how numb the public is to this by now? I don't know if there have been studies, but it seems to me, the older you get, the less you want, I could be wrong, I am just speaking from personal experience.

Re:Have any of you ever BEEN there?

[Nursie]

Flippant though you may be, I can only see two outcomes for this -

1. Advertisers realise exactly how much they have trained people to ignore everything around them, no matter how bright or annoying.

2. Advertisements quickly become even more completely based around naked female flesh, because that's the only way they get any attention at all.

Re:Slippery slope

[peragrin]

It isn't that slippery slopes tend to be right it is that you have to plan on the people abusing your system.

Building a device and put a stick of dynamite into it. see what happens, build a web site, even a personal one, and watch how often it gets attacked. If your going to plan for the future you need to think ahead. People abuse the things they are given and don't have responsibility of. So if you give some one unlimited powers with no oversight it will be abused no matter the intentions.