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."

Comments

Go ahead... nobody else is looking

[Adrian Lopez]

I wonder this might be used for nefarious purposes.

if (minor_is_alone)
  play(cigarette_ad.avi);
else
  play(tickle_me_elmo.avi);

Soviet America aka The North American Union

[gd23ka]

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.