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New Ads That Watch You
Pandanapper writes to tell us Yahoo is reporting that if you find yourself watching an ad on a video screen in a public venue, the ad may be watching you as well. "Small cameras can now be embedded in the screen or hidden around it, tracking who looks at the screen and for how long. The makers of the tracking systems say the software can determine the viewer's gender, approximate age range and, in some cases, ethnicity -- and can change the ads accordingly. That could mean razor ads for men, cosmetics ads for women and video-game ads for teens."
In Soviet America Ads Watch You
Now if they could only make one of these for my front door to recognize the vacuum salesmen.
telescreen? You can turn it down, but never off.
I'm a teenaged bearded woman, those insensitive clods!
I don't think companies could pull that so easily in most of Europe (for the moment, due to privacy legislation)...
In my country, you're even doing illegal stuff if you're taking a picture of someone out on the street without their permission...
That could mean razor ads for men, cosmetics ads for women and video-game ads for teens.
ads for itch powder for people scratching their crotches
and ads for weapons for people giving the sign the finger.
XKCD:Xeric Knowledge Comically Dispen
Diet adds for fat people
Cosmetic surgery adds for ugly people
Maybe even lawyer adds if you get run over while staring at the screen
-EDM
for male flashers?
My dear marketing chums, what ads will people with their middle fingers extended at the camera be forced to enjoy?
Extra credit goes to the first person who gets served an NRA or Soldier of Fortune ad, if you get my drift...
*Unplugs TV from teh internets and puts on tin foil hat* You'll never get me with your personlised ads you fuckers!!!!
from the AP
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gtt0GDVKp2kUEw39aEGal9yfYmjgD961JH500
When you watch these ads, the ads check you out
By DINESH RAMDE - 5 hours ago
MILWAUKEE (AP) -- Watch an advertisement on a video screen in a mall, health club or grocery store and there's a slim -- but growing -- chance the ad is watching you too.
Small cameras can now be embedded in the screen or hidden around it, tracking who looks at the screen and for how long. The makers of the tracking systems say the software can determine the viewer's gender, approximate age range and, in some cases, ethnicity -- and can change the ads accordingly.
That could mean razor ads for men, cosmetics ads for women and video-game ads for teens.
And even if the ads don't shift based on which people are watching, the technology's ability to determine the viewers' demographics is golden for advertisers who want to know how effectively they're reaching their target audience.
While the technology remains in limited use for now, advertising industry analysts say it is finally beginning to live up to its promise. The manufacturers say their systems can accurately determine gender 85 to 90 percent of the time, while accuracy for the other measures continues to be refined.
The concept is reminiscent of the science-fiction movie "Minority Report," in which Tom Cruise's character enters a mall and finds that retinal scanners identify him and prompt personalized ads that greet him by name.
But this technology doesn't go nearly that far. It doesn't identify people individually -- it simply categorizes them by outward appearances.
So a video screen might show a motorcycle ad for a group of men, but switch to a minivan ad when women and children join them, said Vicki Rabenou, the chief measurement officer of Tampa, Fla.-based TruMedia Technologies Inc., one of the leaders in developing the technology.
"This is proactive merchandising," Rabenou said. "You're targeting people with smart ads."
Because the tracking industry is still in its infancy, there isn't yet consensus on how to refer to the technology. Some call it face reading, face counting, gaze tracking or, more generally, face-based audience measurement.
Whatever it's called, advertisers are finally ready to try it, said advertising consultant Jack Sullivan, a senior vice president of Starcom USA in Chicago. "I think you're going to see a lot of movement toward it by the end of this year in the top 10 markets," he said.
Because face tracking might feel reminiscent of Big Brother, manufacturers are racing to offer reassurances. When the systems capture an image of who's watching the screen, a computer instantly analyzes it. The systems' manufacturers insist, however, that nothing is ever stored and no identifying information is ever associated with the pictures. That makes the system less intrusive than a surveillance camera that records what it sees, the developers say.
The idea still worries Lee Tien, a senior staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a civil-liberties group in San Francisco. Tien said it's not enough to say some system is "not as bad as some other technology," and argues that cameras that study people contribute to an erosion of privacy.
In general, the tracking systems work like this: A sensor or camera in or near the screen identifies viewers' faces by picking up shapes, colors and the relative speed of movement. The concept is similar to the way consumer cameras now can automatically make sure faces are in focus.
When the ad system pinpoints a face, it compares shapes and patterns to faces that are already identified in a database as male or female. That lets the system predict the person's gender almost immediately.
"The most important features seem to be cheekbones, fullness of lips and the gap between the eyebrows," said Paolo Prandoni, chief scienti
.....ad watches you...
Wait a minute........
There was no A to R. Just the OP.
Didn't I read about this in "The Diamond Age" by Neal Stephenson? I'm sure there are other scifi examples. Welcome to the future...
Odd... I'd have thought that ethnicity, at least in broad terms, would be a lot easier to determine than age range or gender.
Ads watch you...
I'm a teenaged bearded woman, those insensitive clods!
Everyone might want one.
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
I wonder this might be used for nefarious purposes.
"In prison you just have to shut your eyes and take it. Here you have to shut your eyes and give it."
While there is a certain inevitability about all this, I suspect some of the biggest opposition (at least in the short term) will come from the advertising companies themselves. I know of some people who were trying to commercialize a similar idea. The result of their trials was that it highlighted how few people actually pay attention to advertisements. So if you are a company renting electronic billboard space based on some projection of the number of people that walk past your space, the last thing you want your customers to know is that no-one is actually watching.
that in Soviet Russia, you watch ads... wait a second! Oh wait, I saw this once on dr. who.
... less Tampon ad's, count me IN. As long as their not tying into credit card or purchasing history it doesn't bother me. I don't really want to have to start clearing out my real life "cookies" everytime I finish a shopping trip.
This is NOT new news, and that at LEAST 2 WEEKS ago i read about this. Somewhere in the article Japan was mentioned.
And, no, i'm not referring to this even OLDER article:
http://www.multichannel.com/blog/BIT_RATE/6720-Microsoft_s_TV_Ads_That_Watch_You.php
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
When i read this, I kept thinking of some Geico ad with a pile of money and two plastic eyes...
If I'm the one in a thousand passers-by who stops to look at the ad, DON'T CHANGE IT YOU IDIOTS.
Anyway, more reason to suppress the remaining interest in commercial messages.
This is marketing gone too far, but not for the reasons you're thinking. Technology is being misused here because this is profiling in a pretty mask. This very same technology is used in airports, trying to identify people's emotions, their age, ethnicity, gender, and every other physical attribute we can categorize and has at least a minimal social meaning. And although the argument for harm here is greatly diminished (I get an advertisement not meant for me versus an unsolicited gloved finger, optional lube), it's still non-zero.
As an aside, things that were unimaginable even ten years ago for surveillance are now commonplace. Did you know that every almost Target store in the United States is being fitted (or retrofitted) with Automatic Number Plate Recognition systems? In english, they tag you to your car. And in another five years or so, likely your face, credit card number, and possibly driver's license information, all together. The technology is already installed, it just needs a software update. And I should know -- I pushed those updates and worked with the guys who managed the camera installations. And before you jump on Target for this -- thousands of businesses are doing the same thing. And some of them are sharing their data, creating black lists and more. It won't be long before no matter where you go, you're being weighed, measured, and found wanting. And you were worried about black helicopters and guys in suits with no sense of humor? At least the NSA, CIA, FBI, and other three-letter acronym'd agencies have laws, rules, procedures, and professional codes of conduct to uphold. And appeals processes. Good luck getting out of Target's system... You'll still be there, long after your body has decomposed in a hole somewhere. All you geeks dreamed of an interconnected world; Everything is part of the 'net. Well, it is. And what a hell it is.
But back to the topic at hand... Even people can't guess gender, ethnicity, or age with a high degree of accuracy. A computer, by necessity, will be far worse at this. And I have a very good idea of how that's going to go over. See, my gender is difficult to tell. At the drive-thru or on the phone, I am a "ma'am". At the post office service desk, I'm usually a "sir". On the bus, I get eyes from creepy old guys and straight girls. And both lesbians and gays, amusingly enough. My life is full of delicious ambiguity. My friend's ethnicity, because of a delicate balance of traits, is taken for whatever race the person looking at her happens to be. It has led to some VERY interesting social engagements.
But as amusing as it is most of the time, it has been dangerous and frustrating at other times. I was once refused admission to an urgent care on the grounds that my medical card had the right name on it, but the wrong gender. That made for an expensive and unnecessary trip to ER. I've called my bank before and been told that I couldn't access my account (despite giving all the requisite details) -- same reason. My friend was nearly jumped for wearing "gang colors" -- a situation that my white friends have never experienced. Getting these "little" social details wrong can have severe consequences for a person.
And to bring it all home, imagine walking by one of these machines and having it spring to life, point to you and say in a loud booming voice -- "You should try our new maxi pads, miss!" if you're a guy. Or getting a "Gilette! The best a man can get!" commercial if you're a girl. Oops. The possibilities for embarrassment are endless... and you'd better believe someone's going to sue over this. And rightfully so.
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
While I think there were some plot holes and flaws in Spielberg's adaptation of "Minority Report", and I firmly believe he wussed out on the ending, the film has had a remarkable knack of pointing out realistic future technologies (witness how the midair-gesture-oriented UIs keep popping up). Of course, "Minority Report" had the public ads that not only recognized your gender, etc., but actually recognized you. Given advances in face and other biometric recognition systems, this part of "Minority Report" may be coming true sooner than we all think (and hope). ..bruce..
Bruce F. Webster (brucefwebster.com)
Oh, never mind!
...so the security guys can hit on them at just the right time.
They were right - the revolution did not get televised. It was posted on YouTube instead. All in 120 characters. SLOOSH!
http://www.tvbgone.com/
in soviet russia you watch ads that watch YOU! watch them watch YOU!
that change when they stop to look at them.
They stopped to look at one ad, like for McDonald's new McTriple sandwich.
Then the ad changes for Weight Watches because some fat guy stopped to look at it. Then he gets upset and then the ad changes to one for Anger Management. Then he flips it off and gets a WWE Ad for "Stone Cold" Steve Austin's DVD. Then he laughs at it, and it shows a picture of him and some guy appears on the screen and tells him he's been Punked, please watch the "Punked" show on MTV.
Remember, Slashdot does not have a -1 disagree moderation, and no, troll, flamebait, and overrated are not substitutes.
At what point does Big Business learn enough about human psychology and "psychohistory" that it's malignant and no longer arguably neutral or benign?
News like this is a reminder that we passed that threshold some time ago.
MEMO TO ADVERTISERS: I have TIVO. I DON'T WATCH COMMERCIALS in the first place. I have AdBlock, FlashBlock, and NoScript installed in Firefox because I DO NOT WANT your damned fucking ads in my face. I ***DO NOT WANT*** your stupid fucking targeted ads in my face in PUBLIC either, so GTFO!
Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
So how long until some mother sues a company because their adbox recognized her 14 year old son as a 20 year old and offered him a discount on condoms or cigarettes?
(Yes, I know that US law forbids cigarette ads in various medias.)
you watch ads?
i don't get it.
...would such a billboard produce if it were confronted with a few dozen people wearing Richard Nixon masks? Better, wearing some rubber butts over their faces. Or even just shining mirrors.
I can hardly wait to participate in a beta test.
"I may be synthetic, but I'm not stupid." -- Bishop 341-B
In Soviet Russia bad joke writes you!
Democracy Now! - your daily, uncensored, corporate-free
This is so last year:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/31/business/media/31billboard.html
Don't look now, but the advertisements are watching you. No, it's not a scene from the movie "Minority Report" where digital signboards served up personalized ads depending on who was passing by, but a real-life example 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.
In the coming North American Union aka as "Soviet America" this may well
become a reality.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ii64ErBotvA ,skip to 2:00 (1984)
"Smith? 6079 Smith W? Yes you! Bend over! You're not trying, watch me!
There Brother! That's what I want! Anyone under 45 is perfectly capable
of touching his toes, I'm 39 and I've had four children. We don't all
have the privilege of fighting in the front line, remember our boys on
the Malabar front, think of what they have to put up with."
In Britain people are already getting used to having orders barked at
them from surveillance camera operators. The 1984-style Televisor is only
one step further from that. Oh and the technology is already there too,
Apple just filed a patent that puts a camera _behind_ the screen on their
notebooks. You don't see the camera and worse you can't just tape over it
either.
I am all for any advertising technology that means I as a white person will no longer be subjected to those embarrassingly patronizing "black" McDonald's ads.
For what you ask? Racism, of course.
Imagine this: You're black and you get to see ads for overpriced bling-bling and refinancing opportunities once you started using this "feedback opportunity". Negative stereotyping? Not necessarily, they may not even be targeted, but who knows? Hey, someone will try it! Manufacturers will fear the bad publicity, possibly in their premier target group, and will drop the whole deal faster than it rose. After all, it's easy to prove if such stereotypes are used. Put a $non_minority_group watcher in front of the same program as a $minority_group watcher and have them compare the ads they get to see. Once you find something that could be considered negative stereotyping, grab your stuff and rush to court before someone else does!
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Is they put billboards in the man's bathrooms those "enhancements" ads will make sense. I am getting those even if I don't need them :)
not yours
i won't be buying anything shown on-screen
This technology could go even one step further and when the razor ad comes on in from of men and they all walk away, it could herald us NOT seeing razor adverts ever again!
Of course this will cause the advert model to crumble as advertisers will see that no-one gives a crap about their product, so they won't bother advertising unless they spend huge on a campaign and only advertise infrequently.
Or something.
A new and amusing use for a mannequin! I bet I could keep that adboard busy until the processor or video card blows up!
[End Of Line]
"That could mean razor ads for men, cosmetics ads for women and video-game ads for teens ..." ... and giant suppository ads for the people who make these ads ?
I'm just sayin'.
I just realised: it is possible to put a camera in a TV that uses the lens that seems to be for the infrared remote control. It is technically difficult but not impossible. Question that remains is, has it ever been done?
I have seen spy cameras disguised as other things. For example a wall clock with a black dot that happens to be a spy camera.
You know... for all those people who will suddenly start wearing Guy Fawkes masks whenever they leave their respective homes.
Or for those with less... panache... perhaps adds for matching surgical gloves to go with their surgical masks?
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
I'm sure a can of spray paint or magic marker will do just fine. Spit on the camera. Just cover it up with a sticker. Do this often enough and the cost of maintaining these customized ad machines will make the costs of this type of advertising soar.
This kind of stuff has potential without profiling or tracking. You could take a measure of how effective an ad is, by measuring the number of faces looking at the billboard, maybe bonus points for people who stop and stare. It'd mean more effective ads, which would, in turn, mean lower prices. If the ads are too annoying, then there'd be less faces in the shop to stare, since everyone would have shopped somewhere else by then. It's a win-win.
You know, there is a difference between trolling and pointing out the flaws in your reasoning. Just saying.
It's not just kids that play video games you know. And if you'd actually met a woman you'd know that they shave too. (They even have their own pink razors made especially for them.) And where I live, the men wear cosmetics too.
Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
I now have a use for my Groucho Marx mask.
... hammer time.
really. carry a hammer. hit the public device til it breaks.
When are people going to WAKE THE FUCK UP and tell the ad-stuffing media to GO SOD OFF!
The telescreen received and transmitted simultaneously. Any sound that Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it, moreover, so long as he remained within the field of vision which the metal plaque commanded, he could be seen as well as heard. There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment... You had to live -- did live, from habit that became instinct -- in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized.
George Orwell, 1984
So what will I see after mooning some of these ads? Scarier thought: What would Goatse Man see after mooning the ad? What if I piss on the All Seeing Ad? Or hurl explosive diarrhea at it?
It's gonna suck to be poor marketdroid saps who collect customer feedback.
I see your interested in Tampons!
Would you like to know more about
our fine line!
Blink for Yes!
Something tells me they'll try and figure out a way to tell the wealth of the viewer by what they're wearing, sofor example anyone who looks poor will get loan adverts whilst anyone who looks rich will get expensive car/house/holiday adverts.
To do something right, you often have to roll up your sleeves and get busy.
Nuff said
I can't wait for these ads to begin targeting paranoid schizophrenics.
...I thought it was a dupe, but I guess not.
I wonder how this thing will figure out to whom to show the condom ads...
I also wonder how it will respond if a small animal passes by...
And I expect to see it done on The Simpsons first:
Homer stops to daydream in front of an ad cam.
The cam notices Homer and begins playing a Duff Beer ad.
Homer starts to lose interest so the ad steps it up with increased babeage.
Homer eventually loses interest again, so the ad steps up the babeage again.
But this time it doesn't work and Homer turns to leave.
In a last ditch effort, the ad tosses in some donut references and BAM!
Homer is locked into the ad again.
MMMM, beer and donuts...
Cube On! (http://stores.ebay.com/PuzzleProz)
A picture is a permanent image, this is just a camera that observes but does not record. if that was illegal all camera displays that show the people in front of the shop window on a screen to show the camera's capabilities would be illegal and they are not.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
The only patently bonafide use of this, er, development.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_(Saturday_Night_Live)
In the future, these things will be able to identify you, look you up in various spam profile registries or even read your thoughts.
Then imagine that you're in the underground station, you turn to face an ad screen and it suddenly starts advertising fetish wear.
While everyone looked on. :P
It's only going to get worse. Once the government is involved, things will get much, much worse.
Oh, and the MPAA/RIAA WILL win in the end in some form. Savor the free internet we have today. It won't last.
... that they can identify you as an individual. memory is cheap. To quote Neil Stephenson... "Once scanned they compare you to their database and know everything about you. And if you're not in their database, well, you are now." Boy this tinfoil is itchy.
some cases, ethnicity -- and can change the ads accordingly. That could mean razor ads for men, cosmetics ads for women and video-game ads for teens."
Isn't ethnicity probably the easiest thing on that list for a computer to determine?
Whatever the case, I love fried chicken and grape soda. Anyone got a can of shoe polish?
Fire and Meat. Yummy.
And I want fetish ads like little people doing large people, up close shots of feet doing kinky things, and of course two girls one cup
Didn't they just give apple a patent for a similar device, basically a web cam integrated into an LCD screen.
The fact that there are cameras everywhere is a good thing. Before the age of the camera, someone could hit me in the street and nobody would know. Now whatever happens is being recorded by a camera somewhere. The issue is not whether there are cameras, but who has access to their recordings. If there is a group of people who own the cameras and can see everyone else who don't have cameras, then we have a very serious problem. Thus, if you feel angry with cameras pointed at you, the best you can do is to walk with a camera on your head, or demand from your political representatives to pass laws allowing immediate access to camera recordings by everyone, whether the camera belongs to the government, to a business, or a person, provided the camera is installed in a public space. if the camera is in the public, its recordings should belong to the public!
# echo "blacklist adcam" >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist
There, solved that.
[interrupting Missile Mike]
Max: Hi. I'm doing a survey on this kind of mindless violence and its effect on the mind-mind-mind-mindless. Do you believe all that killing is necessary? Does it s-s-s-scare you?
Raker: Me?
Max: Yes! Yes! You with that plank on whee-whee-whee-whee-wheels. What is its effect-t-t-t on you?
Raker: You can see me?
Max: Well. That was a fas-fas-fascinating discussion and I think you've answered my question. Thank you-you-you-you, thank you... for your help.
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?