Tesco to scan queuing shoppers' features for advertisers - Polidicks

Source: [URL="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/agriculture/supermarkets/10423811/Tesco-to-scan-queuing-shoppers-features-for-advertisers.html"]here.[/URL] [QUOTE=The Telegraph] [IMG]http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02722/Tesco_2722257b.jpg[/IMG] SUPERMARKET giant Tesco is installing hundreds of hi-tech screens that scan the faces of shoppers as they queue at the till to detect their age and sex for advertisers. The store giant has signed a ground-breaking deal with Lord Alan Sugar's Amscreen in a move which last night sparked fresh concerns from privacy campaigners about the growing use of "invasive" techology in the nation's shops. The "OptimEyes" system will be rolled out into 450 Tesco petrol forecourts, which serve millions of customers a week. It works by using inbuilt cameras in a TV-style screen above the till that identify whether a customer is male or female, estimate their age and judge how long they look at the ad. The "real time" data is fed back to advertisers to give them a better idea of the effectiveness of their campaigns and enable them to tailor ads to certain times of the day. [/QUOTE] [QUOTE=The Telegraph] But privacy campaigners last night said the explosion in personal data collection was threatening to spiral out of control. Nick Pickles of Big Brother Watch said camera technology was already available that matches scans of people's faces when they walk into a shop with their pictures on Facebook to tailor special offers to their "likes" on the social media website. He told The Daily Telegraph: "People would never accept a degree of surveillance for law enforcement purposes, but these systems are solely designed to watch us for collecting marketing data. "People would never accept the police keeping a real-time log of which shops we go in, but this technology can do just that. It is a surveillance state by the shop door." [/QUOTE]

So some 40 year old guy will be waiting in line minding his own business, when a small black ball will float down from the ceiling and scan his face with a visible red laser. The man will most likely flinch in reaction the this rather sudden event. Then on the TV screens next to him an advert will start playing for erectile dysfunction.

Does this count for self-checkout?

yeah i'm not really seeing the problem here "oh no a computer knows what my sex is and a rough approximation of my age! and worst of all, they're using it to... attempt to make the ads i look at more relevant and tailored to me!!! the horror!!! george orwell is spinning in his grave atm"

[QUOTE=Skidmarks;42748536]So some 40 year old guy will be waiting in line minding his own business, when a small black ball will float down from the ceiling and scan his face with a visible red laser. The man will most likely flinch in reaction the this rather sudden event. Then on the TV screens next to him an advert will start playing for erectile dysfunction.[/QUOTE] "DEAR SIR, WE NOTICED THAT YOU'VE BOUGHT 10 CASES OF VIAGRA OVER THE PAST MONTH, HEAD ON OVER TO THE DRUG COUNTER FOR YOUR 11TH ON THE HOUSE"

[QUOTE=KingOfScience;42748696]yeah i'm not really seeing the problem here "oh no a computer knows what my sex is and a rough approximation of my age! and worst of all, they're using it to... attempt to make the ads i look at more relevant and tailored to me!!! the horror!!! george orwell is spinning in his grave atm"[/QUOTE] I am. You may not give a shit but a lot of people do. I, for one, can't stand advertising of any sort. I don't want to see it at all. A shop that did this sort of shit would be a shop I never went to, and if they all did it I'd just mail order everything under an alias. I don't care if all they're doing is trying to tailor the ads to me. I don't want to see the fucking things at all! Tailor them to my upright middle finger, ad companies.

Some real Minority Report shit right here.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiDMlFycNrw[/media]

[QUOTE=FinalHunter;42748355]Noooo my privacy! I'm walking into a privately owned store and they're recording my gender and what ads I'm interested in! What is this world coming to?[/QUOTE] holy shit how do you never cease to amaze me

You guys, all it is is a camera in an advert screen. If you look at the advert it takes your picture and times how long you look at the advert and your rough age + sex. It's no different to websites using your data to tailor ads to you.

So what happens if a black guy gets scanned? Racist ads?

[QUOTE=Cmx;42752853][media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiDMlFycNrw[/media][/QUOTE] Call me a douchebag if you want, I gonna wear thick shades.

[QUOTE=Psychokitten;42753173]So what happens if a black guy gets scanned? Racist ads?[/QUOTE] Assuming the scanner picks up the black guy at all.

[QUOTE=Canuhearme?;42753191]Assuming the scanner picks up the black guy at all.[/QUOTE] scanners are some racist bastards

Time to wear some masks...

[QUOTE=wickedplayer494;42753283]Time to wear some masks...[/QUOTE] clown makeup ads then bail bondsmen ads

I sort of don't mind this.. the only 'adverts' I take notice of though are for games.

I'm pretty sure they already have this at some petrol stations in the UK. I drive a 2004 VW Golf Diesel and often I go to the till and suddenly the ad changes to one for a new bluemotion golf diesel.

[QUOTE=xianlee;42753430]I sort of don't mind this.. the only 'adverts' I take notice of though are for games.[/QUOTE] ANd with this now you will see those ad at the store. I like it but it's a slippery slope from personalize ads to invading my privacy.

Time to break out the Groucho Marx glasses when I go on a coke run.

[QUOTE=Psychokitten;42753173]So what happens if a black guy gets scanned? Racist ads?[/QUOTE] the camera either completely fails or it begins playing the black version of the advertisements

[QUOTE=Canuhearme?;42753191]Assuming the scanner picks up the black guy at all.[/QUOTE] considering things like kinect actually had problems detecting people with darker skin in general. :v: [url]http://www.gamespot.com/articles/kinect-has-problems-recognizing-dark-skinned-users/1100-6283514/[/url] this is a possibility.

what if it reads the wrong sex and gives shaving cream adverts for women

Anyone else just pays at the pump and leaves? The only way this could start being a problem is when self-service checkouts start using them - slow enough to use already they could get worse if customers stare at the adverts instead of looking at their wallets to find the money and pay.

I'm okay with stuff like this as long as a) the data is stored securely and anonymously (my "profile" doesn't include any identifying information), b) the data collection is unintrusive, and c) it provides me with something in return I'm okay with google's targeted advertising because it does all of these things. It doesn't sound like this supermarket is willing to offer anything to customers in return.

[QUOTE=ViralHatred;42753116]You guys, all it is is a camera in an advert screen. If you look at the advert it takes your picture and times how long you look at the advert and your rough age + sex. [B]It's no different to websites using your data to tailor ads to you.[/B][/QUOTE] I block that shit too.

[QUOTE=FinalHunter;42754896]If you don't like it, don't shop there.[/QUOTE] What if all shops start doing this? Should I starve to death?

Maybe I'm missing something here but what exactly is intruding on anyone's privacy? It's acquiring less information than even a casual observer could identify, and it's information that isn't exactly private if you're out in public. If there were a guy with a clipboard writing down terms like 'young male' 'old female' 'average male' as people walked into the store and offering them different coupons I don't think 'Big Brother Watch' would be getting involved. It's not Minority Report style targeted advertising specifically identifying people, which would be cause for concern.

For some reason when a man at a shop, who knows what you buy and from talking to you knows your general habits and buying trends, makes suggestions based on such information, it is fine. When a machine does it, it somehow becomes a great cause for concern. Would people object if a humanoid robot observed and talked to you, and used that information to suggest certain products to you?

[QUOTE=Zeke129;42757918]I'm okay with stuff like this as long as a) the data is stored securely and anonymously (my "profile" doesn't include any identifying information), b) the data collection is unintrusive, and c) it provides me with something in return [/QUOTE] I have worked on projects involving biometrics before and when it came to the ones which were just collecting statistical data the biometric template(s) weren't usually stored against any biographical information. The data was, for these projects anyway, usually cleaned after a short period of time for various reasons such as licensing restrictions or to free up space.