Slashdot Mirror
Google Nabs Patent To Monitor Your Cursor Movement
bool2 writes "Google has been awarded a patent for displaying search results based on how you move your mouse cursor on the screen... Google's plans are to monitor the movements of the cursor, such as when a user hovers over a certain ad or link to read a tooltip, and then provide relevant search results, and ads, based on that behaviour. It means that it does not require users to actually click a link to know that they were interested in it, opening a world of opportunity for even more focused ads."
Fuck adverts.
What about people who inadvertently leave their cursor at a certain spot that happens to be a link while reading the results? It seems to me that this wouldn't produce very useful information.
...is most people I know use their eyes instead of their mouse to see. Why would you need to move your mouse over to a certain part of the screen when you can just look there? Also, there's times where the mouse is just sitting in a portion of the screen idly, or sometimes people randomly move their mouse around to fulfill their OCD-ish needs (I'd know, I do that). A better alternative would simply be to see which links people end up clicking, which I'm pretty sure lots of search engines already do, and it works very well from what I've seen.
"Our country is not nearly so overrun with the bigoted as it is overrun with the broadminded." -Archbishop Fulton Sheen
If I'm reading something, I move the mouse out of the way. So, if Google want to track what I'm interested in, they'll need to look at what the mouse is _not_ hovering over, or certainly not stopped over.
I've worked at two companies where we created libraries for monitoring cursor movement, what the business folks used it for I'm not certain but this has been done over and over. What is so new and innovative about their implementation that it is patentable?
I think the invisible hand of the market has its middle finger extended
--A wise old fart named SC0RN
My thoughts exactly. This goes beyond searches submitted to Google. Hopefully it will be opt-in only.
I am all for more focused ads. I dream of the day i will get an advert for something i will actually buy.
They whose government reduces their essential liberties for temporary security, receive neither liberty nor security.
I've worked at two companies where we created libraries for monitoring cursor movement, what the business folks used it for I'm not certain but this has been done over and over. What is so new and innovative about their implementation that it is patentable?
First, to say something is prior art, you have to read the claims of the patent, not the title of the Slashdot summary. For one, were your two companies providing search results and modifying the relevance of the results based on the cursor movement? Probably not.
Second, flip through the comments here on Slashdot:
Good luck with that
For me, it'll be incorrect data
The only problem with that...
Not accurate metrics.
Apparently, ordinary "skilled in the art" programmers and computer folks think that this method won't work, will have problems, will yield inaccurate metrics, etc. If people are saying something won't work, then it's seemingly obvious to them not to try it. The person who said the Wright brothers' machine could never fly probably didn't think that it was an obvious flying machine. Same thing here.
Apparently, the idea has some problems with it before it is a usable solution. If Google has solved those problems, then good for them!
I usually move the cursor OUT of my vision so I can read better. I don't think that's going to be very helpful for them...
They wouldn't be tracking your mouse movements anywhere other than when you are on their page.
When I click on something, it is implied that I am giving them permission to do something. That's how the internet works, after all. Google and others have up to now taken liberties with click data, assuming that they can do what they want with it. And so far, no one has seriously objected.
However just visiting a page, with no warning that I am going to be "tracked", does not imply consent to be "tracked". I have indicated a desire to visit a page, nothing more.
They can already collect this data. It's called a "mouseover" event.
That is done by my browser, and the information stays on my browser. My browser doesn't (up to now) send mouseover events to a server and have the server read those and serve me content based on it. The HTML/javascript reacts in pre-arranged ways when the event happens, nothing more. No data leaves my computer.
meaning every keypress is sent directly to the host rather than text boxes being simple text boxes.
Again legally it could be argued that because the purpose of a text box is to collect data, the user is aware that what they enter into the box will be sent over the internet. So whether it's done instantly or after pressing Enter or a button is a moot point.
However the mouse is an input device between you and your computer. They are not allowed to listen in on THAT conversation, record it, process it, and even sell it, without your explicit permission. That permission, up to now, has been granted by the click of a link or a button. What they are trying to do is ASSUME that they have permission, without your consent. Hey I am not even a lawyer and I can see how tricky this can be. Real lawyers must be salivating...
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
Microsoft used to be in the same position. Bill Gates wanted patents for defensive purposes. For a long time they didn't sue anybody over them. That changed.