1984 Television Spying Tech Finally Here? Verizon's Targeted Advertising Uses Cam and Mike In Your

New DVR will use camera and microphone to target advertisements based on recordings of users

This DVR will be able to listen to a conversation in a room and send targeted advertising to the consumer.

Gee, I wonder what other use they can find for this technology that can see and hear you in your home. 1984 anyone?

And before you dismiss concerns over the new technology, which works as a software application, just consider two of the examples Verizon gives of how its new DVR technology could be used: sounds of couples arguing would trigger ads for marriage counseling while sounds of "cuddling" would prompt ads for contraceptives.

You know, if someone told me this was a good idea, I'd want to punch them.

I hate google adverts based on what IT thinks I want. This would cause me to physically take the dvr outsiude, with a conventional camera, and bash the crap out of it, put it all nicely back in the box, and ship it, with the video, to the manufacturer with a note saying "Shove your technology up your .... Well I guess we don't need an advertisement to guess where!"

Who the hell thinks this is a good idea. It's obnoxious in the extreme.

it will be opt in with benefits I'm sure, but i'm irritated that I've become nothing more than a god damned commodity and only have market value to these pricks...






edit to add

I think I'll be with Dash on this one, their comment echoes my sentiment after rethinking.

24 hour surveillance by advertisers and the government is coming. But they're gonna sell it to us, make us want it. Make us pay for it. And I'll be watching in fascination to see how they accomplish that goal.

Indeed. Approach it with genuine curiosity... it is an interesting time to witness.

Are Verizon also linked with the RFID technology?

This is a little spooky to me.

I can't imagine anybody liking this.
If my DVR box breaks and I have to replace it with one that has this tech, I think I would just do without it. Life goes on without TV.

ArsTechnica points out, Verizon is not alone is filing patents of this nature. Comcast filed a similar patent in 2008 for using technology that would deliver ads based on which people were in a room at a given time. And in 2007, Google filed a patent for its Google TV service that would use cameras and audio recording devices to determine how many people were simultaneously watching a program.

ETA. However if they put this in my tablet, I don't think I could do without that!
I was just thinking they would start sticking it in these as well.

This has to be one for the folklore pages. There were rumors many years ago about Comcast doing the same thing. Like they could really get away with doing something like this?

reply to post by elouina


It might have been folklore a few years ago, but it was on the news this morning.

I suppose there will be a few of us doing without our boxed intertainment.
But, then again, I might just give them some really interesting things to listen to.

I wonder if they will use it to monitor voters response when watching politicians speak in congress.

It's only a patent application which means they are lodging a 'proof of concept.'

If anyone's been following the court cases between HTC, Apple and Samsung, tech companies like to get their 'proofs' in early so they can make claims later on. Success can mean millions of $$.

Let's be honest here, a lot of consumers can be downright stupid and gullible. Would they be stupid enough to pay for targeted advertising at the cost of privacy? I'd like to think 'Hell NO!!' but you never know...

If Verizon pitched it at crazy low prices, they'd make up the profit margins from companies just dying to get more dollar returns from the commercials.

I've said it before...big business is a greater threat to anonymity and privacy than the TPTB.

Sounds creepy. I also don't trust the Progressive Auto Insurance Snap Shot thingy. Why would I want my insurer to know I was driving like an animal to work?

Duct tape can fix anything!!

Originally posted by ConspiracyNutjob
Are Verizon also linked with the RFID technology?

I Googled "Verizon" and "RFID" and a lot of pages came up.

Here is just one.

Originally posted by elouina
This has to be one for the folklore pages. There were rumors many years ago about Comcast doing the same thing. Like they could really get away with doing something like this?

Not folklore. Fact.

Here is a link to the actual patent.

I hope this makes the front page and gets the attention it deserves.


Governments around the world moved very fast with biometrics, makes me wonder if this will be on the fast track as well.