Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
Should Website Advertisers Know Your Name?
SF fans recall the irritation felt by John Anderton in the movie Minority Report as he tried to walk through a mall - while being addressed by every department store advertisement he walked past.
(Video of Minority Report targeted advertisements)
In the movie, Anderton was identified by means of a public iris scanner; his iris scan was compared to a database, and his name and other data were pulled out and presented in real time.
We're very close to being able to do this in real life. Sprint has tried ads triggered by RFID-based loyalty cards. In a special opt-in trial, cell phone users in France tried billboards that could call you as you passed by. In Japan, SuiPo posters can call your cell phone.
The New York Times provides an interesting view of personalized ads - right in your own home, or on your laptop or iPhone. The reporter asked Google, AOL, Microsoft and Yahoo a simple question - "can they show you an advertisement with your name in it?"
The short version:
- Microsoft
"Microsoft stands alone on the name-ad question. The technology company has gone beyond policy making and created a technological barrier to using people’s personal information in advertising." - AOL
"AOL does have the ability to offer ads containing people’s names, which are provided to AOL during registration. But, if AOL offered “name-ads,” which it has no plans to, its privacy policy only allows it to place those ads on AOL-owned sites." - Yahoo
"Yahoo is open to the idea of name-ads. A spokeswoman said that Yahoo can customize ads with people’s registration information, if they are logged in." - Google
"Google told me that they “might” have the technology be able to serve such ads that show your Google user name, and that they have no current privacy rule against it."
The future shown in the Minority Report movie video clip shown above is a real possibility; it could certainly be implemented on your computer while web browsing.
I liken web shopping or web browsing to looking into a store window. I do not want to feel that I am being personally watched while I "stroll" past your website. I want the choice about providing my name and personal data to be my choice alone.
What do you think?
Take a look at the nicely done article at Where Every Ad Knows Your Name - from Bits, the New York Times technology blog.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 3/12/2008)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 1 )
Related News Stories - (" Communication ")
Huawei Pura X Folding Phattie Phone
Why can't we get more innovative phone configurations?
Positioned Cybertrucks With Free Starlinks WiFi In LA
'Several thousand of them formed the positioning grid on the rubble pile.' Vernor Vinge, 1999.
Will Whales Be Our First Contact?
'He had piloted the Adastra to its first contact with the civilization of another solar system.' - Murray Leinster, 1935.
NYC/Dublin Portal Fails To Meet 'Guardian Of Forever' Standards
I am the Guardian of Forever.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
Robotic Barber Programmed With a Number of Styles
'He found a barber shop which, he thought, would be good for an idle hour.'
Humanoid Boxing Robot KO's Opponent - It's A Knockout!
'Thirty rounds of fighting is tough work. Even for machines.'
Caterpillar Electric Mining Loader Not Yet Ready For Moon
'...the excavations were already in progress, for he saw gray slopes of rubble.'
Centipede Robots Down On The Farm
'...the walking mills of Puffy Products began to tread delicately on their centipede legs across the wheat fields of Kansas.'
Anthropic's Claude AI Creates Legal Citation From Whole Cloth
'Here is a Clerk that would work incessantly, and neither eat, sleep, want payment, or grumble.'
Students Vie For Lunar Regolith Mining Robot Prize
'About time you got here,' the astronaut said.
'They Erased My Memory' Says Ariana Grande
'...using a neutralizing electronic impulse.'
Solitary Black Hole Wanders In Space
'...the Hole is something like a vortex or a whirlpool?'
Spaceplane From Virgin Atlantic
'ZARNAK, YOU'RE TO COMMAND A SCOUTING EXPEDITION --- FIND OUT WHAT THIS IS ALL ABOUT!'
DARPA Wants 'Large Bio-Mechanical Space Structures'
'These are your rudimentary seed packages... Some will combine in place to form more complicated structures.'
Robot Hand Creeps Along, Separate From It's Owner
'The crawling... object was V-Stephen's surgeon-hand...'
Taikonauts Exercise In China's Tiangong Space Station
'Joe got out the gravity-simulator harnesses...'
Korean Exoskeleton Suit F1 Helps You Put It On
'Better late than never.'
Have AI Researchers Given Up On 'Bio-Babies'?
'You couldn't have the capstone without the pyramid to hold it up.'
Bunker Busters and Bore-Pellets
'The first revelation of the new Soviet bore-pellets.'
'Spikeless' Brand Swizzle Stick Detects Spiked Drinks
'the unobtrusive inspections with tiny remote-cast snoopers...'
