Amazon Patents Deducing Religion From Gift Wrap

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Amazon Patents Deducing Religion From Gift Wrap

Posted by samzenpus on Sunday December 25, 2011 @04:36AM from the judging-a-gift-by-its-cover dept.

theodp writes "If you're the giver or recipient of presents gift-wrapped by Amazon, you may want to take a gander at U.S. Patent No. 8,060,463, granted to Amazon last month for Mining of User Event Data to Identify Users with Common Interests. Among other things, Amazon explains the invention can be used to identify recipients of gifts as Christian or Jewish based on wrapping paper. From the patent: 'The gift wrap used by such other users when purchasing gifts for this user, such as when the gift wrap evidences the user's religion (in the case of Christmas or Hanukkah gift wrap, for example.)'"

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Right... by billybob_jcv · 2011-12-25 04:38 · Score: 5, Funny

... because no Jew would ever buy presents for their Christian friends, or vice-versa...
1. Re:Right... by pdcull · 2011-12-25 04:41 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Wouldn't just the date of the present-giving be more of a give-away than the type of wrapping paper?
2. Re:Right... by cvtan · 2011-12-25 06:24 · Score: 2
  
  There used to be a requirement for a working model before a patent could be issued. No longer as of 1880 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent_model. I'm pretty sure it is possible to patent things that don't actually work. Items like perpetual motion machines are automatically rejected as a category though.
  
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  Sorry, but gray text on gray background is making my eyes bleed.
3. Re:Right... by BZ · 2011-12-25 06:41 · Score: 2
  
  The patent is about inferring the religion of person B based on the wrapping paper person A uses for a gift he buys for person B.
  It doesn't matter whether person A in the above scenario is Jewish, unless you think he would use Hanukkah-themed wrapping paper for Christmas gifts for his Christian friends.
4. Re:Right... by LordLimecat · 2011-12-25 13:47 · Score: 2
  
  No, Christmas isnt really an exclusively christian holiday. I dont know if you can set a year when it changed, or if it ever truly has been since it took off in the US (it wasnt a big deal during the revolutionary war, except for the Germans), but Christmas today is a hybrid holiday-- it is for christians a celebration of Christ's birth, and for others a traditional celebration of family, friends, and togetherness.
  A very good friend of mine-- an athiest-- is right now celebrating Christmas with his family, because it is a nice thing to do. He every year gives me christmas gifts; that doesnt mean he believes in Christ, it just means hes being a good friend and recognizes what is an american (formerly german) tradition.
5. Re:Right... by Pikoro · 2011-12-25 14:01 · Score: 2
  
  What we need is a Festivus for the rest of us!
  
  --
  "Freedom in the USA is not the ability to do what you want. It is the ability to stop others from doing what THEY want"
Religion of giver? by Sentry23 · 2011-12-25 04:42 · Score: 3, Insightful

Shouldn't that be the religion of the receiver ?
(Unless it is really unimaginable for Amazon that people give presents across religious and ethnical boundaries.)
Re:Dumbasses. by Issarlk · 2011-12-25 04:50 · Score: 2

Then you're a tiny, tiny, tiny error in their predictions and they don't care as long as their system works for 90% of the people.
I guess that by rossdee · 2011-12-25 04:54 · Score: 2

Atheists, Agnostics, and members of other religions don't give Christmas presents ?
BTW I am not a Christian
And who wants to pay more for gift wrsp than for shipping?
1. Re:I guess that by LordLimecat · 2011-12-25 14:59 · Score: 2
  
  If I were a serious Christian, I would be boycotting Christmas. It's a Christianization (and poorly) of an ancient Northern European solstice celebration and fertility orgy. The tree, the Yule log, the lights? None of these things have anything to do with your Christ. You should be embarrassed if you ever thought so.
  Thats just not true.
  Christmas became a bigger deal in the US in the 18th and 19th centuries (1870s, I believe) when Germans brought the tradition over to the US.
  In the middle ages in Germany, a "paradise tree" was erected by the church; eventually the tradition expanded to include hanging sweets on the tree for children. Its origins are uncertain, but according to wikipedia came from an older christian tradition.
  Im fairly certain that electric multicolored lights arent a pagan tradition.
  As a christian, I have no idea what a Yule log is, though I have heard the term before.
  And regardless of all of that, regardless of what else is / was / has been celebrated on December 25, or when Christ was actually born (probably September), are you saying it is wrong for me to celebrate Christ's birth with my family and the rest of my church, and with society, on this day? I can recognize that for some people this is a celebration of debauchery, for others it is a celebration of consumerism; but you cant deny that for still others it is either a celebration of family and togetherness, or of Christ's birth.
Non-obvious? by NixieBunny · 2011-12-25 04:59 · Score: 2

Patents are supposed to be granted only for non-obvious solutions. How is this not obvious to someone trained in the art?

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The determined Real Programmer can write Fortran programs in any language.
1. Re:Non-obvious? by Anonymous Coward · 2011-12-25 05:09 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Clearly, deducing that somebody is Jewish because they bought Hanukkah wrapping paper is a brilliant invention worthy of the full protective power of the United States government and international intellectual property treaties. How else is America going to survive in the information age?
  Let me restate: figuring out that somebody is Jewish because they bought wrapping paper with Jewish stars on it IS STEALING. You wouldn't steal a car or a DVD, would you?
Re:MLP wrapping paper by FairAndHateful · 2011-12-25 05:02 · Score: 2

I will admit, the Pony Girl gift wrap is NOT what I expected. Thankfully... If it was, that's a powerful level of niche marketing potential.
Surely by CanHasDIY · 2011-12-25 05:04 · Score: 3, Interesting

I can't be the only one who finds the idea of patents for " Mining of User... Data to Identify User[s]" a bit unnerving....

Of course, I'm one of the apparent minority who tend to adhere to the concept that privacy is still a right.

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An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
1. Re:Surely by Your.Master · 2011-12-25 07:21 · Score: 2
  
  But if they are smoking crack, well then, clearly they are not corrupt.
Ermm... by forkfail · 2011-12-25 05:09 · Score: 4, Insightful

... you can really patent something that basically reads, "Using a feature to help in set classification"?
About ready to say scrap the entire patent system - at least when it comes to software. It's not like it protects the actual inventors any more at all.

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Check your premises.
"A Method for Detection of Extramarital Affairs" by PolygamousRanchKid+ · 2011-12-25 05:46 · Score: 3, Funny

. . . "Based on the Sending of Kinky Sexual Gifts to Non-spousal Persons."
" . . . hmmm . . . let's see what the mayor is sending to other females besides his wife . . . "
There's plenty more gold to be monetized in that Amazon mine.
Ordered copies of "Armed Insurrections for Dummies" . . . ? "Cooking Crack in Your Bathtub for Fun and Profit" . . . ?

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Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
FSM? by z3r0n3 · 2011-12-25 05:50 · Score: 2

What gift wrap do pastafarians use?

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We are but a pixel in the JPEG of life.
Other Amazon Patents... by TheMiddleRoad · 2011-12-25 05:53 · Score: 4, Insightful

Determining religion by presence or absence of circumcision.
Determining gender by presence or lack of a penis.
Determining age by birth date.
Determining quantity by how many of an item is present.
and my favorite...
Determining the failure of the US patent system by filing stupid patents.
That's it. by RyuuzakiTetsuya · 2011-12-25 06:12 · Score: 2

to throw it all off I'm going to use Jewish wrapping paper to wrap pressed ham in a can, or Christian wrapping paper to wrap books about evolution or by Christopher Hitchens.

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Non impediti ratione cogitationus.
Re:So what does lime green wrapping paper signify? by cvtan · 2011-12-25 06:26 · Score: 3, Funny

I hear frogs like green. You must be a frog.

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Sorry, but gray text on gray background is making my eyes bleed.
Discrimination based on religion by kawabago · 2011-12-25 07:06 · Score: 2

This will be a great way to attract law suits claiming discrimination based on Religion. All they have to do is offer something to people of one religion and not offer it to everyone else.
Aha! by Sloppy · 2011-12-25 07:21 · Score: 2

So that's what that Marilyn Chambers movie was about.

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How to mess up Amazon's computers by turkeyfeathers · 2011-12-25 08:20 · Score: 2

Order a copy of the Koran with Hannukah gift wrapping!
Re:Dumbasses. by mjwalshe · 2011-12-25 09:11 · Score: 2

No no they give citronella flavored candles to the leader of the coven - demons just lap it up its just like catnip to them
Re:Dumbasses. by Pfhorrest · 2011-12-25 09:34 · Score: 2

You realize Satanists don't actually worship or even believe in the existence of Satan, right? They're basically anti-Christians, not only disbelieving the factuality of Christian claims, but more emphatically disputing the moral lessons of it, which they consider authoritarian and submissive, in favor of a more individualistic moral code. They just use an alternate character interpretation of the "villain" from their opponents' stories to make that point.
Compare (though it's not a perfect analogue) the use of "Xenu" by opponents to Scientology.

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