New Tech From NEC Identifies Age/Sex For Targeting Ads

Still think "1984" can't happen? We're getting closer with each technological breakthrough people. Now, thanks to NEC, cameras are being made that determine your age/sex/shopping habits. A quote from http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/07/creepy-advertis.html: "Just imagine: A rather young-looking 25-year-old walks in front of a television screen in a mall, and suddenly the TV starts playing one of those obnoxious "Trix are for kids!" commercials.

More here:
http://dvice.com/archives/2008/07/digital_stalker.php

It amazes me that people still believe that technology is incapable of bringing out our worst fears and that there isn't anyone out there in the world that is willing to use that technology. Some may think things like this are over-hyped, but you would have to be a complete, cement-headed fool to not realize that each privacy breach is a simple step to another breach, and another, and so on.

 

Corporations around the world have embraced the digital age and its implications. There will always be ways for the technology to be abused and manipulated for one's own uses. Things will not revert back to the more simpler days of typewriters and paper filled cabinets.

 

Yep, our data is at the mercy of multi-million/billion dollar corporations, and not a thing is going to change it back.

 

So true. Business will embrace technology to make more money, but also there customers expect them to have modern technology.

 

You hit the nail on the head. We basically asked for all of this tech, now we're laying in the beds we made.

 

Maybe you all did, but as for me, getting to learn Computer Science was a way to get a job, not for nearly every fricking business to adopt its use. When I started to work with computers, very few businesses had an online presence. If they all did revert back to pre-WWW days, the main impact to me would be back to the paper filing days and no more online business transactions and ebay. LOL

 

Convenience is nice, but it has a hell of a price.

 

This is the age of instant gratification and the global economy. No more walled castles (unless you live like people from centuries past).

 

Well, instant gratification has always been with us, it's human nature, it's just easier to get that gratification now. The frightening part of all this is that instant gratification is being put above security, safety and privacy more than it ever has in the past, and it is showing no signs of a reversal. Even worse, few really know the risks involved, and fewer care.

Edit: This brings up another thought regarding this issue, if you actually read about what this new camera does, how is this any different from the oh so taboo "racial profiling"? This could easily be switched from ad-related to crime-related profiling, regardless of why you are profiling a subject, you are still profiling them.