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Yahoo Patents Smart Billboard That Would Deliver Targeted Ads To Passersby or Motorists (thestack.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Yahoo has filed a patent for advertising billboards outfitted with a wide array of sensors -- including drone-based cameras -- which would use facial and vehicle recognition, data brokers, cell-tower information and social network information to attempt to identify worthwhile advertising targets and aim personalized ads at them as they pass on foot or in cars. The scheme, which was submitted on October 6th, anticipates using the same kind of micro-auction processes that currently determine which ads users see in webpages and mobile apps. The implementation of public ad-targeting brings up some fascinating and chilling prospects, as users find that the ads which "bloom" around them betray much about their private lives. Yahoo provides an example via its patent application: "According to one example, a digital billboard adjacent a busy freeway might be instrumented with or located near traffic sensors that detect information about the context of the vehicles approaching the billboard, e.g., the number and average speed of the vehicles. Such information might be used in conjunction with information about the time of day and/or the day of the week (e.g., Monday morning rush hour) to select advertisements for display that would appeal to an expected demographic and to display the advertisements for durations that are commensurate with the level of traffic congestion." The patent application also mentions how it will gather required information from individuals: "Various types of data (e.g., cell tower data, mobile app location data, image data, etc.) can be used to identify specific individuals in an audience in position to view advertising content. Similarly, vehicle navigation/tracking data from vehicles equipped with such systems could be used to identify specific vehicles and/or vehicle owners. Demographic data (e.g., as obtained from a marketing or user database) for the audience can thus be determined for the purpose of, for example, determining whether and/or the degree to which the demographic profile of the audience corresponds to a target demographic."
The same thing that happens when I visit youtube will invariably begin to happen when I pass this billboard. Rolling along in my 1993 Lincoln town car, with my cellphone switched off for the evening commute as its both safer and avoids targeted advertising, ill glance at the horizon. Ahead, I'll see the new Yahoo billboard, and just as I approach, it will hesitate for a second before displaying the same Kardashian/Dr Phil/clickbait/pop topic trending at the national level and sponsored accordingly to do so.
and in the midst of a 5 lane highway, im certain this billboard will get exciting.
Good people go to bed earlier.
*** Internet Company For Sale ****
Price with CEO: $4.8 Billion
Price without CEO: $8.8 Billion
Imagine the cognitive dissonance during the next election. Or let's see, eight heteros, five homos, two unsure, what do we throw onto the billboard?
I envision a person walking with their soon to be ex while the billboard says: bought that pistol yet? Funeral arrangements? Mexico vacation?
---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
"Ladies and Gentlemen of The Jury, this tragic accident would have never happened without a targeted and pre-planned ad directed at my client! The instant the advertisers, the ad delivery company, and Yahoo made good on their conspiracy to display an ad for Viagra, my client looked down in shame... and a young life was snuffed out forever... by the callous disregard for the dangers of distracted driving by the advertisers and those working on their behalf."
You have the right to remain sentient. If you give up the right to remain sentient, you will be elected to public office
I'm sick of ads evading our time and space with no respect for people.
When are people going to realize this excessive greed has to stop.
Could we just ban ads already for once and for all instead of allowing them to visually pollute our physical and virtual places.
Does this mean people walking near me will also be able to see that for some reason, Yahoo is targeting me with ads for Oxycontin, pornhub and pork rinds?
This makes me a little uncomfortable.
You are welcome on my lawn.
Yahoo, get a competent CEO!!!
The World's Fourth-Largest City Outlaws Billboards, Calls It 'Visual Pollution' (2007)
Sao Paulo: The City That Said No To Advertising (2007)
Quote: '... all forms of outdoor advertising were to be prohibited, including ads on taxis, on buses -- even shopfronts were to be restricted, their signs limited to 1.5 metres for every 10 metres of frontage. "It is hard in a city of 11 million people to find enough equipment and personnel to determine what is and isn't legal," reasoned Kassab, "so we have decided to go all the way." '
Can cities kick ads? Inside the global movement to ban urban billboards (2015) Quote:
Quote: "First it was Sao Paulo, then Chennai. Then Grenoble, Tehran, Paris and now even New York have spawned movements to replace or ban outdoor advertising."
If you can't trust Yahoo then, oh never mind.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
I have been appointed by the entire human race to inform you that you don't know what you are talking about.
Car-insurance companies very much want people to pay their premiums like clockwork, and never get in an accident.
Life-insurance companies very much want people to pay their premiums like clockwork, and live long and happy lives.
Funeral homes? Well, they do serve the dead, but they're run by caring human beings who very much want all of us to be on this earth as long as possible, and then take care of us after our One Bad Day.
If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
There's probably no need to do all of that. Hackers will be changing the billboards anyway. We're talking Yahoo "security" here.
So if I drive with a Miss Piggy mask as adblocker, they'll show me frog-legs ads?
How can this possibly be "patented"? It's been in every movie for the last 50 years.
The patent system is completely broken.
No sig today...
So now every time I pass by a billboard it's going to display ads for extra extra large condoms... ... how embarrassing.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch