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Tokyo Rail Billboards Scan Viewer's Age, Gender

Posted by timothy on from the to-me-you're-a-14-year-old-girl dept.

eldavojohn writes "The AFP is reporting on digital billboards in Tokyo that scan for a viewer's age and gender to tailor the message to them. It's a Digital Signage Promotion Project that 11 railway companies are debuting. The head of the project said, 'The camera can distinguish a person's sex and approximate age, even if the person only walks by in front of the display, at least if he or she looks at the screen for a second.' Philip K. Dick's Minority Report draws closer every day."

42 of 235 comments (clear)

  1. Stop, Citizen! by Pojut · · Score: 2, Funny

    ::pause::

    OK, move along.

    --
    Living With a Nerd
    1. Re:Stop, Citizen! by Kepesk · · Score: 5, Funny

      Quick! Everyone put on Larry King masks so all the billboards turn into adult diaper ads!

      --
      Help me fix my brother's injured butt!
    2. Re:Stop, Citizen! by interkin3tic · · Score: 3, Funny

      Quick! Everyone put on Larry King masks so all the billboards turn into adult diaper ads!

      No, everyone put on "interkin3tic" masks, so we can get all the billboards to turn into weird hentai ads!

      Just, let's please come to a consensus, all one or the other, because if we half do Larry King and half do me, we're going to get wierd hentai ads featuring adult diapers. And there are some lines even I don't want to see crossed.

    3. Re:Stop, Citizen! by BobMcD · · Score: 4, Funny

      Methinks he dost protest too much...

  2. hmmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    waiting for it to call you a female and you are a male...

    1. Re:hmmm by Selfbain · · Score: 4, Funny

      If you wanted to be really evil, you could program it to identify socially awkward teens and have it identify them as the opposite gender.

      --
      Well, it has never been successfully tested.
    2. Re:hmmm by Yvan256 · · Score: 2, Funny

      This is Japan we're talking about. Have the system identify all males as tentacle monsters.

    3. Re:hmmm by Idbar · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I happens that there may be many people in front of the billboard.

      I'd assume that when the detector cannot discriminate, a general advertisement should come up.

      I could come up with a basic list of what could be shown: Old man: viagra
      Middle age man: sport cars
      Young man: condoms
      Old woman: Body lotion
      Middle age woman: gym equipment or subscriptions
      Young woman: tampons or female hygiene products
      man (unable to discriminate age): cars
      woman (unable to discriminate age): magazine subscriptions
      young (unable to discriminate sex): video games/soda
      middle aged (unable to discriminate sex): banking products
      old (unable to discriminate sex): vacation spots
      unable to discriminate age and sex: consumer electronics/cellphone plans


      Now, group these categories and show something different every time.

    4. Re:hmmm by thepotoo · · Score: 2, Insightful

      OK, TFA has absolutely no details, but I think all it's doing is recording information about the demographic that looks at the billboard, thus allowing the billboard owner to say: "57% of the people looking at this billboard are male, 18-35 years old" and then pick an appropriate ad for the space.

      The issue with this, of course, is that if you have a billboard showing some iteration of rule 34, a certain demographic is going to look, and you'll get the impression that only this demographic looks at ads, and then show more ads targeted to this demographic (lolcats) when in fact (hypothetically) there is a much larger entire demographic (say, 65+ women) walking by that doesn't stare because they don't care about lolcats. Maybe they just have a blank wall to get a sense of whose walking by before they show any ad? Or maybe this is just to get a sense of how many people are actually seeing the ad?

      I don't know, this seems like a case of over-engineering, privacy issues aside ("operators have promised they will save no recorded images" yeah right).

      --
      Obligatory Soundbite Catchphrase
    5. Re:hmmm by Rutefoot · · Score: 2, Interesting

      You have no idea how potentially evil these signs can be. The thing is, age is very tough to identify with certainty with this sort of software (gender is really easy). If you want to know someone's age you first have to know something else about them....Their race. Now it's possible that they're only designing these things to measure people of Japanese descent, but if they're not, I'm willing to bet you that they also check for race to calculate age. The technology exists. I know, I've seen it in action. It works about 95% of the time for gender and they're getting better (I'm part of the 5% that it thinks is the wrong gender...sigh). There would be obvious issues with checking for race so if it does its most likely only using it for calculating age and not being stored, but the ability is most certainly there.

  3. This can't end well... by sznupi · · Score: 3, Funny

    Automatic recognition, on a wide scale / network, of young females, in Japan? Oh my...

    --
    One that hath name thou can not otter
    1. Re:This can't end well... by interkin3tic · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Automatic recognition, on a wide scale / network, of young females, in Japan?

      Uh, no. It's not automatic recognition on an individual level beyond age and gender. It won't say "Hey! Yoshiko! You there! Buy some Pocari Sweat!" It might say "Hey! Big group of mostly 20 something guys heading to the business district! How about some Evangelion-themed pachinko after work!"

      It's not going to be a wide scale network, at least I see nothing suggesting it's going to be networked. Which, getting back to the previous point, would be pointless anyway. "Hey! You might be one of the 10 million 15 year old males we saw in Osaka last week! Drink Coke Zero!"

      The "looking at the billboard" is a clue. I think it's just going to try to measure which demographics are looking at which ads, so they can target them better. "This particular location near the line to Akihibara 'electric town' saw a whole lot of 20 to 30 year old males, so that's where the ad for the next Dragon Quest would be most effective. Meanwhile, the exit from the Keio line had mostly elderly people, so lets not pay as much for those locations."

    2. Re:This can't end well... by Yvan256 · · Score: 3, Informative

      They could also do timed advertising as well. Some supermarkets play different kinds of musics depending on the day of the week and the hour.

  4. Additional Features by Bicx · · Score: 2, Funny

    - Escort ads for those who appear middle-aged and alone

    - Diet Services for those who appear overweight

    - Viagra ads for those who appear to have undersized genitals

  5. Finally by by+(1706743) · · Score: 2, Funny

    Something that can determine Pat's gender.

  6. OK, too far. by BVis · · Score: 2, Insightful

    At what point do we turn to the marketing overlords and say "Fuck you, you don't have a right to know my age or gender, as much as you think you might". Advertising has gone too far already with being microtargeted, someone has to draw the line.

    YOU DON'T HAVE AN INALIENABLE RIGHT TO MARKET TO ME. Make money by doing something useful, not leeching off those who do.

    --
    Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.
    1. Re:OK, too far. by phantomfive · · Score: 4, Insightful

      lol really? I don't understand your unexplained rage at being marketed to. Would it bother you if they instead paid a person to sit out there and write down the gender and approximate age of every person that walked past? Pretty much every person you see throughout the day has this information about you (and a lot more, for example, that you get upset a lot).

      I mean, yeah, it's kind of annoying to get to a web page and there's advertising on it, but the ideal advertising is when you only tell people who are interested in a product about the product. That way you don't have to worry about people who aren't interested, or people who might become homicidal because of it, like you. This just goes one step closer to only giving people advertisement for things they might be interested in.

      Really, don't kill anyone over this.

      --
      Qxe4
    2. Re:OK, too far. by commodore64_love · · Score: 4, Insightful

      >>>YOU DON'T HAVE AN INALIENABLE RIGHT TO MARKET TO ME

      Yes actually I do. It's my mouth and if I want to stand on a street corner and market my "the world is ending" speech all day long, I can. If you don't like it, move to a different part of the public street or only frequent private areas (like malls) where I can not enter.

       

      --
      "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
    3. Re:OK, too far. by phantomfive · · Score: 4, Insightful

      OK, I can accept that I may be wrong, that there may be some privacy issue that I'm not seeing. Not everything done with technology is a privacy problem, though. There is no personal information stored here. It's like the difference between putting a tracker on a car and a machine that counts cars going by. One is a privacy violation, and the other is laughable to get upset about.

      I know it's good to worry about privacy issues, and slippery slopes and all that, but this isn't a slippery slope. We can draw a line between things that need a warrant (or permission) and things that don't. "Think of the privacy issues" is like the nerd equivalent of "think of the children," you can use it to manipulate geeks to oppose things, but I don't see this one as crossing the line.

      In any case raging about it does nothing except make you look silly, and probably reduces your chances of actually doing something practical about it.

      --
      Qxe4
    4. Re:OK, too far. by GooberToo · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If I'm interested in a product, I don't need to be told about it. If I want to find it, I'll find it

      My head just exploded.

      In general terms, the point of most advertising is to either introduce an unknown or new product to the public or to inform the public of benefits of using said product. As such, if you don't know about a product, how would you know you don't need to be told about it? Which means, you know you don't know so you don't need to know, therefore not knowing means you know enough about it to not need to know. WTF?!

      *Boom* There it went again.

    5. Re:OK, too far. by GooberToo · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Somehow this simply subject seems to go completely over your head.

      How about, "black jeans". If you never knew they existed and no one ever told you they existed, its likely it would never occur to you to even search for, "black jeans". Obviously jeans in an all around bad example, but the point is, you insist you know you don't know and therefore since you don't know you know. The fact remains, its impossible to know everything you don't know; especially when you don't know what you don't know.

      We all agree advertising can very much suck. But reality is, unless you live in the woods and off the land, advertising also serves an important social function. Well, at least to any consumer/commercial society.

      *BANG*

    6. Re:OK, too far. by gstoddart · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You make a big deal out them knowing your gender and age, but any human being you walk past would know that immediately. Why does the fact that it's being done with technology make you uncomfortable, but for another human to know that is perfectly ok?

      Easy, because a human can't automatically upload an image of your face to a database, correlate your movements with all of your credit card purchases, make inferences about your long-term buying patterns, and then sell that information to someone else who has no business with it in the first place.

      The technology allows for far greater scale of privacy invasion, and provided an opportunity for data about you to persist in ways you couldn't even conceive of.

      Think of it as Big Brother, but operated by commercial interests.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    7. Re:OK, too far. by Arcaeris · · Score: 3, Informative

      In general terms, the point of most advertising is to either introduce an unknown or new product to the public or to inform the public of benefits of using said product.

      Maybe if it was 1880. The idea that "giving consumers information about a product makes them buy more of it" is easily the least effective and most simplistic type of marketing. This is sometimes combined with more advanced forms, but is often left out.

      Modern marketing theory has its roots in the 1920s and Edward Bernays. At its core it is about associating a product with a person's desires at a subconscious level. It has long since gone much deeper and more manipulatively past this. Look up "Century of the Self" if you want a good account of what really went into forming modern marketing strategy.

      Look at recent Corona ads or Dos Equis ads for examples of where this has gone these days. The ads have almost nothing to do with the beer they are trying to sell, and no information at all about the product. Yet it is still very effective advertising.

    8. Re:OK, too far. by cayenne8 · · Score: 3, Insightful
      Ok, then why do they keep incessantly advertising product that everyone knows about?

      Coca Cola? McDonald's?

      It isn't like these aren't already known world wide. Sure, I guess new generations come out...but surely you don't need to advertise them THAT often, that is, if the main reason like you argue, is to inform people of products they might not know about?

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    9. Re:OK, too far. by Haffner · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Wrong. It is possible to hurt yourself driving your car. The new GM forcefield prevents that from happening, under any situation. You didn't know it existed, but now that you do, I'm gonna bet you need it. This is not harmful.

      --
      "Going to war without the French is like going deer hunting without your accordion." ~General Norman Schwarzkopf
    10. Re:OK, too far. by auLucifer · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Not at first but once he starts to franchise his world is ending speech he will be able to. Hell if the speech is so good perhaps a joint venture with one of the big fast food chains will be able to supply the extra workers to help promote it! "End of the world happy meal! Limited time only! *expires when the world ends"
      Or better yet. Chances are one of the franchisees could be christs second coming and once he says the world is ending you'll have the attention of most of the world. He'll have people coming right upto him, giving him all of their details like age, gender, health concerns, bank details and all the details of their family members and he'll not have to employ a heartless billboard or trawl any social networks.

      --
      If I was witty I'd put something funny here but, as it stands, I am not and have just wasted seconds of your life
    11. Re:OK, too far. by phantomfive · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Says the man with 'censorship is obscene' in his sig.

      --
      Qxe4
  7. Re:I have been to Japan... by AnonymousClown · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...I doubt they get much accuracy in age, and probably a large number of "indeterminate" or false positives on gender...

    If some electronic add calls me a chick, I'm punching its lights out!

    --
    RIP America

    July 4, 1776 - September 11, 2001

  8. Wasn't in PKD's Minority Report by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    The commercial eye-scanners were all Spielberg.

    1. Re:Wasn't in PKD's Minority Report by kg8484 · · Score: 2, Funny

      I don't see any indication that these cameras can predict future murders.

      But if they could, they would be more likely to offer ads for weapons, ropes, shovels and lotion rather than report you to authorities.

  9. Re:Now that's just not right... by jfoobaz · · Score: 2, Funny

    HTML swallowed my

    Giggity.

  10. Islam countries? by vlueboy · · Score: 3, Funny

    So this tech will not work against two types of foes:
    Muslim women with only their eyes exposed
    Those of us who will see these billboards everywhere in 30 years and start dressing lie ninjas in public.

    1. Re:Islam countries? by decipher_saint · · Score: 2, Funny

      Need Ninja supplies? Why not stop off at Goemon's One Stop Ninja Shop for all your Ninja needs! ...

      Hey ladies, tired of targeted advertising? C'mon down to The Burqa Boutique, we've got the latest fashions just time in summer, all in the new classic; black! ...

      A new life awaits you in the Off-World colonies!

      --
      crazy dynamite monkey
  11. Re:"Hello Mr. Yukkamoto by Conspiracy_Of_Doves · · Score: 2, Funny

    Because it would creep too many people out and drive them away from the store.

    --

    Technoli
  12. QUIT WRITING DYSTOPIC SCIENCE FICTION... by GreyWolf3000 · · Score: 4, Funny

    ... you're giving them ideas!

    --
    Slashdot: Where people pretend to be twice as smart as they really are by behaving like children.
    1. Re:QUIT WRITING DYSTOPIC SCIENCE FICTION... by smellsofbikes · · Score: 4, Insightful

      ... you're giving them ideas!

      The whole point of *good* science fiction is to issue a warning to the world about what will happen to us all if we don't act now to stop whatever issue the writer is writing about. Scifi that presents a good future is escapism. Scifi that extrapolates our current trends and demonstrates the catastrophe that will ensue, is great literature, and from the standpoint of its potential worth to our culture, it's probably the greatest literature we have.

      --
      Nostalgia's not what it used to be.
  13. Cable companies ... by jabberwock · · Score: 2, Funny
    We can't be very far away from having ads on cable TV that greet you by name and act like they know you.

    Hi Bob,

    As a 47-year-old married guy with two teen-agers who is having trouble paying his bills, we don't want to make you feel worse by showing you ads for products you can't afford, like new cars. We show those ads to Dave, next door. What you need is ... Pepto-Bismol, and maybe some antidepressants, right?

    Oh, hell. Maybe they are doing that and I haven't caught on yet.

  14. Happy fun time signs! by Quiet_Desperation · · Score: 2, Funny

    "Hello [scanning] sir."

    "Now that you are [scanning] in the prime of middle age, couldn't you see yourself in a brand new Generic Sport Sedan From GeneriCo?"

    "Yes, sir, approach this kiosk, and I will display the many features of the Boring Oval Shaped Sedan 300Q"

    "It is not necessary for you to hold a [scanning] metal pipe to view this ad."

    "Neither is it necessary for you to [bzzzt] strike this kiosk with the [blargle] metal pipe."

    "Please [buzz] stop [skree] hitting [roar] me, [bzzzzrrrzzzzzzzzzz] sir"

    "[zzzzz] maintenance required [skttttttktktktk] please [bzzzzz] Daisy daisy [zzzzzz] rosebud"

    "sssssssssss boop!"

    (blessed silence)

  15. Re:Crossdressers/transgendered? by Yvan256 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Since the system is being developed in Japan, we know that crossdressing guys will be identified as evil because of the Square-Enix rules.

  16. Will they screen the ads first? by Quiet_Desperation · · Score: 3, Funny

    As a 47-year-old married guy with two teen-agers who is having trouble paying his bills, we don't want to make you feel worse by showing you ads for products you can't afford, like new cars. We show those ads to Dave, next door. What you need is ... Pepto-Bismol, and maybe some antidepressants, right?

    "Money problems? Did you know there are places in this world that will buy your children? Press "9" on your television remote for further details."

  17. The technology is already in use in the US by Kizeh · · Score: 3, Informative

    And this is different from signs with the same capability that have been in US Malls for a good while only in that they're actually actively acting on the info, whereas the US marketers, AFAIK, only so far use it to analyze who is viewing their ads and for how long. Next time you're out and about the mall, look for the small camera on top of the ad. They're out there/

    1. Re:The technology is already in use in the US by Kizeh · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Reference link from two years ago: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2008/10/digital-billboa.html