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Billboard Camera Pictures You Watching

Billboards with cameras is yet another in a long series of great ideas from advertising geniuses. The basic idea is that the billboard is equipped with a camera that will take some sort of picture if it sees a person standing in front of it.

Once it detects a person, it tries to see if the person is paying attention, and for how long. Privacy sensitive? You bet. For now.


(Billboard with camera)

So far so good.

There are always those next steps however. Like trying to determine the race, gender and age of the person. Then, use digital billboards to show you an ad targeted to what the billboard believes you are.

It strikes me that this would be a great way to see what advertisers - and by extension, other people - think about you. Stand in front of a suitably equipped digital billboard, and see which advertisers want to talk to you.

Anyway, sf fans will have no trouble recognizing this possible future; see these previous billboard-related articles for sfnal references:

If you think it can't get worse, consider an advertisement that can follow you home - Sales Robot IRI-Millennia Opens Gates Of Hell.

Via NYTimes; thanks to Moria.

Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 6/2/2008)

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