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Google Nabs Patent To Monitor Your Cursor Movement

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the i-see-what-you-did-there dept.

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."

27 of 198 comments (clear)

  1. Adverts... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Fuck adverts.

    1. Re:Adverts... by stonewallred · · Score: 4, Funny

      Good, I will keep a window open with the picture of a rabbit with a pancake on its head and have my cursor on it most of the time. Let them figure out what targeted ads to show me then.

    2. Re:Adverts... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      The mouse-listening will be multiplexed to DHS and trust me, they don't take it lightly on rabbit with pancake hovering weirdos like you.

    3. Re:Adverts... by DigitAl56K · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Fuck adverts.

      Really? So you're willing to pay a monthly subscription to all your favorite search engines, news sites, etc. then?

  2. Hover on this comment by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hover on this comment and it will change to something relevant.

    1. Re:Hover on this comment by somaTh · · Score: 3, Funny

      So, now it's Schrödinger's advertisement?

      --
      Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.
    2. Re:Hover on this comment by jgagnon · · Score: 3, Funny

      Not if I install the latest version of MouseBlocker+!

      --
      Remember to maintain your supply of /facepalm oil to prevent chafing.
  3. Better Google than Amazon... by jd2112 · · Score: 4, Funny

    I wouldn't want to deal with no-click shopping.

    --
    Any insufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology.
    1. Re:Better Google than Amazon... by MikeTheLiberal · · Score: 5, Funny

      This gives me incentive to shake my mouse while browsing. Although, I'll probably get ads for Parkinson's Disease if I do. :)

    2. Re:Better Google than Amazon... by dintech · · Score: 4, Funny

      I wouldn't want to deal with no-click shopping.

      My wife already handles this for me. :(

    3. Re:Better Google than Amazon... by FlyMysticalDJ · · Score: 3, Funny

      This gives me incentive to shake my mouse while browsing.

      Is that what they call it nowadays?

  4. Not Accurate Metrics. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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.

    1. Re:Not Accurate Metrics. by Sparks23 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I now see a bright side to the 'touchscreen devices can't support mouse movement and Javascript hover behavior' complaints about web development for Android, iPhone, iPad, WebOS etc.

      --
      --Rachel
  5. A great user experience awaits in 2030 by ciaran_o_riordan · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Thanks Google, for the disclosure of this invention which society will be free to benefit from in 2030.

    Some will say that the game is broken and Google is just obliged to play the game too, but in that case, they could make a promise not to use this patent aggressively. Since there's no such promise, all we can say is that they're stockpiling dangerous patents.

    --
    Expert in software patents or patent law? Contribute to the ESP wiki!
    1. Re:A great user experience awaits in 2030 by john83 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I do recall seeing an interview in which a Google executive (I forget which one) was asked about patents. He replied that Google was only interested in defensive patents. Of course, that statement isn't exactly binding, but even the links you've given claim that Google has never sued anyone for patent infringement.

      --
      Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
  6. The only problem with that... by supersloshy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...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
    1. Re:The only problem with that... by treeves · · Score: 3, Informative

      I'll go further and say that I tend to move the cursor AWAY FROM where I'm looking so as not to be distracted by it or cover things up. They'd get a negative correlation with what I'm interested in from my cursor movement. But maybe they already know that.

      --
      ...the future crusty old bastards are already drinking the Kool-Aid.
    2. Re:The only problem with that... by Monchanger · · Score: 3, Insightful

      As with all the various habits mentioned in this topic, your case will either be factored into the algorithm, or disable it for you if you are truly too random for the algorithm. There's no reason to assume the algorithm won't be personally tailored to the extent you provide a unique visitor profile.

      People tend to forget that algorithms are where Google excels. They shouldn't to be underestimated so easily.

    3. Re:The only problem with that... by hierofalcon · · Score: 4, Funny

      I don't have OCD. I have CDO. That's like OCD but the letters are in the right order.

  7. Re:I assume webkit will be properly protected by Tom9729 · · Score: 4, Informative

    This can be done right now in any browser unless you turn off or restrict JavaScript.

  8. sadly, my first thought was by SLot · · Score: 3, Funny

    Michael J. Fox isn't worried about this patent.

  9. Good luck with that ... by gstoddart · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I wiggle the mouse and randomly highlight text while I'm reading -- it used to confuse and baffle co-workers. Mostly it's just keeping my hand busy.

    If they can infer anything meaningful from what is essentially doodling with the mouse, good luck with that. What I'm highlighting or hovering over has little to do with how they might be able to advertise to me. Heck, I think it would be funny to see the results.

    And, I somewhat agree with the observations in TFA that there might be some privacy issues here. I already block google analytics on most of my machines.

    --
    Lost at C:>. Found at C.
  10. Legally by Dunbal · · Score: 3, Interesting

    What is the difference between this and a keylogger?

    It's one thing to record commands I have sent to their computers by clicking. It's another thing entirely to track things I do on MY computer. I foresee a lot of legislation in Google's future.

    --
    Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
    1. Re:Legally by PhrostyMcByte · · Score: 3, Informative

      Websites have been doing this for at least a few years now already. They've got heat maps that show where people keep their mouse. I don't really see how Google's idea is any different, unless they feed it through some mouse gesture software to get a deeper meaning.

  11. Re:Too invasive by jgagnon · · Score: 3, Funny

    He suffers from premature clicking. There's an app for that, but he's too embarrassed to buy it.

    --
    Remember to maintain your supply of /facepalm oil to prevent chafing.
  12. Hooray! by zmollusc · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.
  13. This isn't fair. by RabbitWho · · Score: 5, Funny

    If we weren't supposed to stroke men and women in ads then the cursor wouldn't change into the shape of a hand.

    What am I supposed to do now?

    --
    it's under construction