New digital signs target people by age and gender

New digital signs target people by age and gender

www.mercurynews.com

"The vast majority of people walking in stores, near elevators and in other public and private spaces have no idea that the innocent-looking flat screen TVs playing videos may be capturing their images and then dissecting and analyzing them for marketing purposes," the nonprofit, Southern California-based World Privacy Forum warned in a report it issued on digital signs in January. "Controls need to be put in place now, before this technology runs amok."

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
www.mediapost.com

These high-tech digital screens are being used on a largely unsuspecting public to capture images of consumers, size them up, and target them for direct ads while they're shopping.

Of course, it is alleged your image "isn't recorded," and certainly we've never been deceived in this regard before (**rolling eyes**). No need to elaborate on the possibilities this technology could bring forth if more retailers hop on the bandwagon.

I've also included another article on the ways the retail industry is seeking to incorporate this technology into a number of areas to create an atmosphere where we are essentially being "followed" from one place to another.

They are comparing this technology to that seen in the movie, "The Minority Report." The recent film "Eagle Eye," shockingly a Spielberg film (**rolling eyes again**) is centered around similar monitoring of the masses. In the behind-the-scenes interviews, the actors and production staff strongly emphasized that this type of monitoring is currently more widespread than the public realizes.

Therefore, the next time you hear some maroon proclaim he will gladly sacrifice some privacy if it will "keep us safe," just slap him silly for me and tell him I said, "WAKE UP DUMB A--!!"



www.mercurynews.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Cool topic!
I would think that perhaps recent 'reality' t.v shows like Big Brother, Survivor and a whole rash of similar themes -
are helping to program the public into excepting to some small degree the idea that being under somebody's ever watchful eye and the attached surveillance required to do so - is a'okay...?
What do you think?

Great find - thanks for the post. Face recognition scares me, and CCTVs are so pervasive now, especially in the UK. However they are becoming more popular in other countries as as well. I have been aware of face recognition software for years, so the stage it is at now is quite advanced, if it is able to analyse to this detail.

Will this be the next step in advertising?

www.soundalert.com...

"However, if Face2Cam is mounted centrally in the ceiling with a Directional Sound Beacon, which when triggered compulsively makes all occupants look up, the facial recognition software does the rest."

Edited to add link



[edit on 16-3-2010 by 1984hasarrived]

Nice find. Interesting topic. This is the obvious evolution of a couple of ideas and technologies which have been in everyday use for some years now.

Automated recognition technologies have been in employed in airports and other places for close on a decade (since 9/11). As with most technology birthed by the military-industrial complex, watered down versions of this tech are now filtering down into the commercial market.

Similarly, demographically targeted advertising has been in use on the Internet for even longer. Google's advertising, as one example, allows advertisers to target people by age, gender and geographic location (to name a few).

It was only a matter of time before these two things hybridized, and I do not doubt that it won't be long before this Orwellian prophecy finds it's way into our homes as well.

reply to post by NightGypsy


You're right, Night Gypsy !

Reminds me exactly of those freaky ads in Minority Report that called out to you by name when you walked past and they scanned your retinas...

Creepy....

reply to post by wagtail

I would think that perhaps recent 'reality' t.v shows like Big Brother, Survivor and a whole rash of similar themes - are helping to program the public into excepting to some small degree the idea that being under somebody's ever watchful eye and the attached surveillance required to do so - is a'okay...? What do you think? Text

Wagtail . . .

Sorry it took so long for me to respond..

I think you are absolutely right about this. You see, several years ago, I got rid of cable t.v., but prior to that it seemed the networks were just infested with these reality shows. From what I see in the tabloid headlines, things have only gotten worse in this regard. And, yes, I do think this has been a very good method of "conditioning" us to accept "Big Brother" into several areas of our lives.

I also think movies like "Minority Report" and "Eagle Eye" that are set in the future and depict technology as being so advanced that you can be identified and tracked everywhere you go kind of get people to assume that "that's just the way it's going to be in the future." Anymore, instead of raising our eyebrows at this intrusive technology, we just come to expect it.

reply to post by NightGypsy


I'm glad I understood what you were saying =) ,
also, I think the subtlety of the 'conditioning' is that it's presented in such a way
that the public aligns itself With Big Brother... we the audience, are apart of and participating in the surveillance, therefore, if Our intents and purposes are harmless - then how could it be used in a harmful manner?
It makes us comfortable with the idea, without the viewer feeling personally intruded upon!
It wouldn't occur to half the couch-potatoes out there how sinister that role reversal could be!
It's a very clever little media technique there I'm thinking.
Hehe.
And I shudder to think of the impact this type of 'entertainment' is having on the minds of young people...
I mean in terms of the fact that, for example, my staple T.V diet when I was younger - although drastically less than the norm - was really only saturated with 'Reality' in the form of David Attenborough documentaries, ABC, SBS, various other forms of documentary - Michael Palin travel shows/you get the idea...
I'm talking 10yr olds these days are raving about the latest celebrity Big Brother or Survivor series, these shows have very complex adult content in terms of manipulating others, emotional, mental and spiritual abuse being toted as fly on the wall up to the minute entertainment...
Being spoonfed these ideas from formative age, how can they not fail to except the blatant infringement on their rights as human beings when the axe does finally fall!?